--- title: "The Interrupters" year: 2011 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-interrupters" fi1m_score: 78 critics_score: 77 critics_reviews: 16 published: "2026-09-17T05:10:49.630262+00:00" updated: "2026-09-17T05:10:49.998219+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Interrupters (2011) Directed by Steve James · 2h 09m · MPA NR · Documentary **Fi1m score: 78** · Critics 77 from 16 reviews *In a sentence:* Former gang members talking teenagers out of shooting each other, one corner at a time, in a city that keeps supplying corners > Steve James follows three former gang members who step into Chicago’s street fights and talk people out of killing each other. It is patient, frightening and often moving, and it goes on longer than it needs to. Ameena Matthews alone is worth the evening. ## Synopsis Chicago, one year. CeaseFire is a programme that treats street shootings as an epidemic, and its founder Gary Slutkin hires people to break the chain. They are called violence interrupters, and most of them used to be the ones with the guns. Ameena Matthews, headscarved and impossible to talk over, works the corners and the funerals. Cobe Williams sits in kitchens with men who want revenge by nightfall. Eddie Bocanegra, out of prison after a killing he committed as a teenager, works with children. Tio Hardiman sends them out each week. The first months bring a teenager’s funeral, a man raging after a police raid, and Caprysha Anderson, a girl Ameena is trying to keep alive. ## Review Steve James has made a film about people whose job is to walk into an argument that is about to become a shooting. They work for CeaseFire, a Chicago programme that treats gun violence as a disease passed from person to person, and they are called violence interrupters. Most of them used to be the people doing the shooting. James and the writer Alex Kotlowitz follow three of them through a year, and the film is very good: careful, tense, often moving, and long enough that its shape goes soft in the middle. That is the verdict. The rest is detail. Ameena Matthews is the detail most people will remember. She is a small woman in a headscarf who walks into a group of young men on a corner and does not stop talking until they do. Early on there is a funeral for a teenager, and James keeps his camera on her as she works the boy’s friends, who are already deciding who to blame. She does not plead and she does not lecture. She tells them what will happen next if they do what they are planning, in the voice of someone who has watched it happen. Her scenes with Caprysha Anderson, a girl she is trying to keep off the street, are the film’s most painful, because Ameena is very good at this and it is still not clear it will be enough. Cobe Williams is the gentle one. He has a big laugh and he uses it, and his method is to sit in a man’s kitchen for as long as it takes. There is a scene where he goes to see a man whose house has just been raided by police, who is furious and has said out loud what he means to do about it. Cobe sits down, asks about his mother, and waits. We were frightened through the whole of it, and not for Cobe. It was the man’s hands we were watching, and James, who does not cut away, was watching them too. Eddie Bocanegra, the third, served a long sentence for a killing he committed as a teenager, and he carries it into every room; his work is with children, and he is quieter than the other two. James edits the film with Aaron Wickenden, and their choice is to keep the camera where the talking is and let it run. There is no narration and nobody is asked to re-enact anything. Joshua Abrams’s music is low and spare and mostly keeps out of the way, which in a film about grief is harder than it sounds. Gary Slutkin, who founded the programme, and Tio Hardiman, who runs the interrupters, supply the theory in short bursts, and the film does not linger on either of them. It is more interested in the corner than the office. The length is the problem. At 129 minutes this is already a shorter version than the one shown at festivals, and it still has a middle hour in which an intervention is followed by a meeting, which is followed by a memorial, which is followed by another intervention. Some of that is the point; the work is repetitive and the city keeps producing new cases. But a film can make that point and then move on, and this one makes it three or four times. Some of the talk also goes by fast and low, and we lost a few exchanges we would have liked to hear. And the film never asks whether the programme works across a city rather than one kitchen at a time. Slutkin’s claim is stated. It is not tested. Set against James’s own [*Hoop Dreams*](https://film.one/film/hoop-dreams) (1994), which followed two boys for years and found a story in them, this has the same patience and less shape. It does not build; it accumulates. That is honest about the work, and it is also why the second hour feels like the first. Watch it at home, where you can go back for the sentences you missed, and where you will not have to be anywhere afterwards. It is not a film to leave quickly. *Fi1m score 78, published 17 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics recommend The Interrupters, and the praise lands in the same place: the three former gang members Steve James follows through Chicago’s CeaseFire programme. Ameena Matthews is named again and again as the standout, for her composure and for how plainly she gets results. Reviewers credit James with the closeness of his access and with declining to tidy the story into a lesson; two reach for Hoop Dreams and The Wire as points of comparison. The reservations are almost all about length. Critics who saw the longer festival cut call it repetitive and slack, and Collider, the coolest of the reviews, marks it down for that. The AV Club, reviewing the shorter release cut, finds it rushed instead. The Guardian would like more on the programme’s founder, and the Evening Standard finds some of the speech hard to follow. The spread is narrow: nobody dislikes it, and the argument is over how much of it there should be. ### Reviews we read (16) - **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (90/100, inferred): Ebert calls the film Steve James's most important work, praising its focus on the brave ex-convicts who intervene in Chicago street violence. He highlights the film's depiction of their trust-building efforts amid a national epidemic of senseless killings. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-interrupters-2011) - **Sight and Sound**, Michael Brooke (90/100, inferred): The critic praises the film as a compelling, street-level documentary on Chicago's CeaseFire violence interrupters, comparable to The Wire but entirely true. It highlights the program's innovative approach through the detailed, courageous work of three former gang members. [Read](http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/review/6428) - **Slant Magazine**, Lauren Wissot (90/100, inferred): The critic finds the documentary an inspirational and heartbreaking nail-biter that follows the Sisyphean task of gang mediators with novelistic scope akin to Hoop Dreams. It singles out the interrupters' street credibility, personal transformations, and moments of tension and humanity for particular praise. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-interrupters/) - **The New York Times**, Manohla Dargis (NYT Critic’s Pick): Dargis describes the documentary as a hard-hitting look at violence interrupters in Chicago who put themselves in harm's way. She singles out the intimate access to the interrupters' personal stories and their work as giving a face to an American tragedy. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/29/movies/the-interrupters-a-documentary-by-steve-james-review.html) - **The AV Club**, Scott Tobias (B+): The review calls the film a powerful extension of Steve James's earlier work, embedding with CeaseFire mediators who use their criminal pasts for credibility in halting violence. It praises the inspiring subtlety of the interventions but notes the 125-minute cut feels rushed compared to longer festival versions. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/frontline-the-interrupters-1798171545) - **The Times** (80/100, inferred): The Interrupters is a remarkable report from the frontline of Chicago's violence epidemic, following three charismatic interrupters who save lives one at a time through intervention and persuasion. Ameena Matthews stands out as a vivid, endlessly watchable character. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/article/the-interrupters-95nxm8qx3n8) - **Time Out**, Tom Huddleston (4/5): The review affirms that the film is needed despite familiar inner-city stories, commending Steve James for documenting the daily work of CeaseFire interrupters without easy narratives or finger-pointing. It singles out Ameena Matthews as the standout for her intense self-possession and effectiveness. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-interrupters-1) - **IndieWire**, Eric Kohn (70/100, inferred): The critic highlights the film's focus on the inspiring yet volatile work of CeaseFire interrupters mediating gang conflicts in Chicago. It commends the empathetic portrayal of the activists' personal histories and their nuanced interventions while noting the challenges of capturing the ongoing epidemic. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/culture/review-fighting-gang-violence-in-steve-jamess-the-interrupters-53127/) - **Los Angeles Times**, Kenneth Turan (70/100, inferred): Turan finds the film surprisingly moving for its refusal to soften the reality of street violence while showing that change is possible one person at a time. He praises the integrity of the collaboration between James and Kotlowitz and the focus on three dedicated interrupters. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-xpm-2011-aug-26-la-et-interrupters-20110826-story.html) - **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (70/100, inferred): The film offers a clear and powerful picture of the desperate sadness arising from urban violence in Chicago, including funerals and memorials. The critic would have liked more on the CeaseFire founder Gary Slutkin and his views on a potential tipping point. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/aug/11/the-interrupters-review) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, THR Staff (70/100, inferred): The review describes the film as an eye-opening account of efforts to end Chicago's violence epidemic, alternating shocking glimpses with convincing optimism about new methods. It praises the fascinating interrupters and well-crafted sequences but suggests the length and detail suit television better than theatrical release. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/sundance-review-chicago-violence-doc-94331/) - **The Independent** (70/100, inferred): Steve James's absorbing documentary focuses on three former gang members working as Violence Interrupters in Chicago's CeaseFire program. The eloquent Ameena Matthews stands out as inspiring amid uplifting moments, though a sense of hopelessness still dominates. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-the-interrupters-e-6288753.html) - **Variety**, Peter Debruge (70/100, inferred): Debruge calls it Steve James's most ambitious project, profiling courageous Chicago activists who intervene in fights and coach conflict resolution. He notes strong characters and scenes but criticizes the unwieldy 164-minute length from its Sundance premiere cut. [Read](https://variety.com/2011/film/markets-festivals/the-interrupters-1117944431/) - **Evening Standard** (65/100, inferred): This long documentary by Steve James follows three Violence Interrupters on Chicago's violent streets, drawn from 300 hours of footage. It is a brave and worthy effort, though at times it is difficult to understand what the participants are saying. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/the-interrupters-review-7426226.html) - **Eye for Film**, Owen Van Spall (80/100, inferred): The critic praises the film as a fascinating, haunting, and tense study of ex-gang members intervening in violence in Chicago, highlighting the courage of the three main interrupters. They note it could benefit from broader context on systemic issues but succeeds in showcasing unglamorous heroism. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-interrupters-film-review-by-owen-van-spall) - **Collider**, Matt Goldberg (C): The critic praises the important subject of violence interruption in Chicago and the dynamic, charismatic central figures but faults the film's excessive 162-minute runtime for making it repetitive, aimless, and lacking momentum. [Read](https://collider.com/the-interrupters-review/) ## Details - **Director:** Steve James - **Director:** Steve James - **Writer:** Alex Kotlowitz - **Editor:** Steve James, Aaron Wickenden - **Music:** Joshua Abrams - **Producer:** Steve James, Alex Kotlowitz - **Cast:** Tio Hardiman as Himself; Ameena Matthews as Herself; Cobe Williams as Himself; Gary Slutkin as Himself; Caprysha Anderson as Herself; Eddie Bocanegra as Himself; "Lil' Mikey" Davis as Himself - **Runtime:** 2h 09m - **Certificate (MPA):** NR - **Release (the US):** 29 July 2011 - **Genres:** Documentary - **Box office:** $282,448 - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS5Hjhy1RhM ## Where to watch in the US - Amazon Prime Video: add-on - Amazon Prime Video: rent $2.99, sd - Apple TV: rent $3.99, sd - Apple TV: buy $4.99, sd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $6.99, sd *Checked 2026-09-17.* Also available in: AT, AU, BE, BG, CA, CZ, DK, EE, FI, GR, HK, HU, ID, IL, LT, MY, NO, NZ, PH, PL, PT, SE, SG, TH, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Hoop Dreams* (1994), Fi1m 92: James’s earlier Chicago film, five years with two boys and a basketball — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/hoop-dreams.md) - *Streetwise* (1984): Seattle’s street children, filmed close and without comment, as bleak as it sounds - *The Wire* (2002): Baltimore’s corners as a system, and the people who keep trying to change it - *Bus 174* (2002): A Rio hijacking, traced back to the street child who did it - *Les Misérables* (2019): A Paris estate, one bad day, and the police who make it worse --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-interrupters