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Herman's House: movie review

  • Film
  • 3 out of 5 stars
Herman's House
Herman's House
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Time Out says

3 out of 5 stars

Herman Wallace and two others were accused of murdering a guard at Louisiana’s Angola Prison in 1972, though the evidence against them was shaky at best. (That didn't stop Wallace and one of his cohorts from receiving the longest solitary-confinement sentences to date in the history of the U.S. penal system.) Angad Bhalla’s doc follows the relationship between the eloquent prisoner and activist-artist Jackie Sumell, who makes it her mission to build his dream house. Wallace shares his vision of a fantasy pad that includes a 6' x 9' hot tub (a foot bigger than his cell); the slightly batty Sumell makes sacrifices in her own life in order to enrich his. It’s an absorbing, prickly tale, which Bhalla doesn’t tell as coherently as he could have—oddly fitting, considering this is a story about frustrated ambitions and unfulfilled potential.

Follow Jenna Scherer on Twitter: @secondhusk

Written by Jenna Scherer
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