Netflix's new short documentary The Quilters is creating a lot of media buzz, for good reason. (See comment on viewing audience at end of article.)
The 32-minute, award-winning film, which came to Netflix on May 16, is set in a maximum security prison in Missouri and focuses on the prison's Restorative Justice Initiative. The program involves inmates, many of whom are serving life sentences, volunteering full-time, five days a week, to make quilts for foster children in their area that they'll never meet.
The film opens on a room full of prisoners hunched over sewing machines, and the narrative is pieced together in a way that allows the viewer to get to know a handful of them a little more intimately.
While the crimes that landed these men in prison were violent in nature, to be accepted into the program, they have to have zero behavioral incidents behind bars. This is because the many aspects of designing, cutting, sewing and ironing intricate patchwork quilts require the use of instruments such as razors, scissors, and heated irons. Tools are carefully monitored and are signed in and out during shifts.
There's a profoundly touching moment when an inmate named Potter gets misty-eyed after reading a thank you letter from the foster child who received his quilt. Viewers get to see the strong sense of purpose that creating something beautiful and practical gives to Fred, an inmate who designs quilts so obsessively he sadly loses the privilege.
But I think the essence of the film is best summed up by the inmate who goes by the name Chill:
"This is what puts me on the outside," he said as he stitched together bold patterns inspired by butterflies. "When I do this, I'm not even in here."
It's no surprise that many people are discussing The Quilters on social media. I think some of the best commentary I found on the film was on Mary B.'s YouTube channel, a quilter with 42.5K subscribers who shared her personal experience of setting up a similar program in a women's prison.
Mary B. talked about the humanizing aspects of a project that involved prisoners sending quilts to loved ones: "Suddenly, these women weren't inmates anymore; they were mothers, daughters, sisters and wives ...."
So, check it out! The Quilters is a hopeful reminder of the restorative aspects of art and public service.
The Quilters is unrated, but viewers should be aware there is coarse language and discussion of crimes.
