This is a great piece of radio, one of the finest half hours around. I remember it when it was first broadcast, and now would be the perfect moment for stations to replay it. It's an almost unbelievably sad and powerful story. But they'll need to have an intro (or maybe better a new ending) a couple of minutes long to explain how it was that Rideau finally managed to get out. It would also work very well with coverage of Sister Helen prejean's new book on the death penalty. (She and Rideau are old friends). Anyway, what a piece!
I simply cannot stress enough how much this piece needs to be aired. The rating "very much" offers not even an inkling of the necessity for all people to hear this piece--Governors, Presidents, all people.
I haven't heard anything so real in quite some time. This piece simultaneously made me cherish my freedom and wish I could give some part of it to let these men out of prison. In the current absense of systematic reform to let some of these men out of prison, the radio can at least bring their stories to fellow-human beings. In at least this way, they will not die forgotten, a fear they discuss in the piece.
Exquisitely produced from the recording to the editing, from the interviews to the singing, to the poem, to the narration, to the background of prison noise. This is one of those rare pieces of documentary art that touches deep the mind, heart, and spirit of the listener.
From the first sounds of prison guards calling for inmates to 'wake up' the piece captured my complete attention.
The story touches on the crossroads of life sentencing and the inevitable elderly issues that occur.
It's amazing to hear an elderly inmate speaking with wonder of the 'superhighways' he's heard of, the television being the only connection to the ourside world. What they must think of us with only that window.
It breaks your heart to hear an old black man (most or all of the inmates interviewed are black)wondering whether the Cosby show accurately portrays life on the outside.
The stories of men running - fruitless, tragic efforts though they are - still inspire the listener to root for the inmates.
I've never been able to get my mind around the concept of life imprisonment. It's more alien than death somehow. This piece manages to capture the horror of lost hope, the intricate psychology of the older prisoner, and the tragedy of the young.
It's impossible not to draw a mental picture of Morgan Freeman when you hear the narrator's voice. It's cadence and timbre are both reminiscent of the actor in the prison film Shawshank Redemption.
Great variety of interviews, voices, sounds, music and information. It's a great piece, and I hope that somehow it speeds Mr. Rideau's pardon and release.
Comments for Tossing Away the Keys
Produced by Dave Isay with Wilbert Rideau and Ron Wikberg
Other pieces by Sound Portraits
Rating Summary
3 comments
Bill McKibben
Posted on January 24, 2005 at 06:04 AM | Permalink
Review of Tossing Away the Keys
This is a great piece of radio, one of the finest half hours around. I remember it when it was first broadcast, and now would be the perfect moment for stations to replay it. It's an almost unbelievably sad and powerful story. But they'll need to have an intro (or maybe better a new ending) a couple of minutes long to explain how it was that Rideau finally managed to get out. It would also work very well with coverage of Sister Helen prejean's new book on the death penalty. (She and Rideau are old friends). Anyway, what a piece!
Will Cervarich
Posted on January 23, 2005 at 12:34 PM | Permalink
Review of Tossing Away the Keys
I simply cannot stress enough how much this piece needs to be aired. The rating "very much" offers not even an inkling of the necessity for all people to hear this piece--Governors, Presidents, all people.
I haven't heard anything so real in quite some time. This piece simultaneously made me cherish my freedom and wish I could give some part of it to let these men out of prison. In the current absense of systematic reform to let some of these men out of prison, the radio can at least bring their stories to fellow-human beings. In at least this way, they will not die forgotten, a fear they discuss in the piece.
Exquisitely produced from the recording to the editing, from the interviews to the singing, to the poem, to the narration, to the background of prison noise. This is one of those rare pieces of documentary art that touches deep the mind, heart, and spirit of the listener.
Stefan Tornquist
Posted on January 21, 2005 at 03:42 PM | Permalink
Review of Tossing Away the Keys
From the first sounds of prison guards calling for inmates to 'wake up' the piece captured my complete attention.
The story touches on the crossroads of life sentencing and the inevitable elderly issues that occur.
It's amazing to hear an elderly inmate speaking with wonder of the 'superhighways' he's heard of, the television being the only connection to the ourside world. What they must think of us with only that window.
It breaks your heart to hear an old black man (most or all of the inmates interviewed are black)wondering whether the Cosby show accurately portrays life on the outside.
The stories of men running - fruitless, tragic efforts though they are - still inspire the listener to root for the inmates.
I've never been able to get my mind around the concept of life imprisonment. It's more alien than death somehow. This piece manages to capture the horror of lost hope, the intricate psychology of the older prisoner, and the tragedy of the young.
It's impossible not to draw a mental picture of Morgan Freeman when you hear the narrator's voice. It's cadence and timbre are both reminiscent of the actor in the prison film Shawshank Redemption.
Great variety of interviews, voices, sounds, music and information. It's a great piece, and I hope that somehow it speeds Mr. Rideau's pardon and release.