Although many of the base issues in the film “All About Sacramento” are, as the title of this documentary suggests, all about one particular city, the general underlying problems that Braz discusses are national and have an enormous impact on society, not to mention on the lives of those who are facing incarceration. One of the biggest issues that reflects a serious problem with the human condition is the way we, as a society (particularly in America) tend to reduce everything to neat lines, into tight budgets, and around conditions and policies that are more geared towards a philosophy or general framework. While that is fine in the world of business, when human lives are at issue, it is another story entirely and it is this imbalance that the documentary film by Braz, “All About Sacramento” attempts to address and offer an analysis of.
In summary, the main theme that the documentary film “All About Sacramento” is really discussing at heart is the way policies are completely detached from reality. It is far too easy to gather together a set of numbers, statistics, blend them together into an abstract policy that sounds feasible or helpful and then defend it like crazy, especially if you have the public relations budget to do so. The main issue presented in the documentary film “All About Sacramento” is that with this combination of a lack of understanding of who policies directly affect (or, perhaps it is a lack of concern about these “little” people or even worse, criminals who already have reduced rights) and the hype surrounding action for the “good” of all is dangerous and is out of sync with the idea that policy should help people such as those followed in the documentary film “All About Sacramento” and should attempt to offer the best solution for all parties.
In terms of “All About Sacramento” the documentary film, in the context of prisons and the way they are dealt with and budgeted or outside of it, the main idea is that there is an incredible lack of understanding of the everyday struggles of the average person or even, if one wishes to take things a step further, organizations. As any analysis of the main themes addressed in the documentary film “All About Sacramento” suggests, it is far too easy to devote air time or pop out press releases that show that great strides are being made in a particular arena and pay lip service without even really addressing an issue or topic related to policy or other matters on a level where it has an effect on anyone aside from those who are hoping to have their side heard and agreed with.
As the documentary film by Braz entitled “All About Sacramento” addresses, while in the case of prisons and their budgetary and policy issues (that lead to basic concepts of human rights at a certain level) this is certainly true, it can also very easily be conceptualized in other areas of public interest. For instance, health care is almost a joke in this country and just as in the case of prisons in the United States, many discuss how they are working to solve the problem and apply data that does not benefit or even assist real people just to make themselves look like they’re doing something.
The fact is, the documentary film “All About Sacramento” is about not only flawed policy, but the press, public relations, and what these aspects are lacking in terms of their ability to actually help the people they claim to understand. This failure indicates a certain degree of laziness and inattention to the subject and as a result, there is in this country a lot of hot air and in many arenas, a lot of inaction (although it may look like action with all of the attention being paid to the topic of the day).
Other essays and articles in the Arts Archives related to this topic include : Summary, Analysis and Review of the Film “Reel Bad Arabs” • Sex and the Holy City : Film Analysis • Capital Punishment, Ethics, and Public Opinion • Issues Surrounding the Rights of Prisoners
