Product Details

• Actors: Phil Simms
• Directors: Michele Ohayon
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: New Video Group
• DVD Release Date: June 28, 2005
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00092ZT4Q
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #166,595 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

A wholly inspiring look at the lives of inner-city children who are beating the odds through creative performance at an after school performing arts group that serves as a second family & a safe place to dance act & express themselves. Studio: New Video Group Release Date: 06/28/2005 Run time: 90 minutes Director: Michele Ohayon

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Well Done Documentary, May 15, 2005

By 

Rockinghorse Winner (Reseda, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Colors Straight Up (DVD)

This is the story of an arts program in the Los Angeles Public School system geared torward "at risk" youths. It was filmed in the program's infancy, when Colors United was an extracirricular program at one high school in South Central Los Angeles.

We are immediately immersed in the world of these kids, without commentary or words of introduction. The camera simply follows around several students as they shuffle back and forth between their gritty life in the "hood" and their alternate ego as a member of an acting and performing troup rehearsing for their big annual show.

The film is heartbreaking many times over, and I, who rarely cry during movies, found my eyes moist througout much of the film. The movie shows how hard the lives of these kids are, and how courageously they funnel this experience into their artistic performance, which is called "Watts Side Story." For many viewers, it will be a window into a world they have heard of but know very little about. But it is on the moral plane, not the social, that the film really enlightens.

The determination of these high schoolers to commit to each other for the sake of an uplifting common purpose, while all around them their world seems to be coming apart at the seams, is almost the definition of moral courage.

The director is wise not to pontificate or comment on the on screen happenings. The young men and women depicted feeling their way to adult hood and moral responsibility is the most eloquent statement that can be made. I can not recommend this film highly enough. It is especially appropriate for high school age kids or those involved in *at risk* behavior to see "another way."

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FABULOUS, January 29, 2008

By 

neebee "nee" (ATL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Colors Straight Up (DVD)

THIS DVD IS SO GOOD IT'S ABOUT INNER CITY KID'S WHO FIND HOPE THROUGH A GROUP CALLED COLOR'S UNITED AND THROUGH THIS GROUP THEY ARE ABLE TO OVERCOME
MANY TRAGEDIES AND MAKE IT TO SUCCESS.MORGAN FREEMAN IS NOT IN THIS MOVIE!

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought Provoking, March 26, 2008

By 

Patricia M. Terrell "p.m.terrell" (NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Colors Straight Up (DVD)

Colors Straight Up offers a glimpse into a world most of us never see. And the way out of a ghetto simply comes down to one word: "hope". If the people in a community feel there is no way out, they are destined to lives of failure, crime and drugs. But if they are given hope, it's as if blinders are taken off and they have a reason to work, a reason to reach for achievement. This movie shows one community's response to a group of students who could easily have gone in either direction, and it provides inspiration for projects in our own communities. My hat is off to Morgan Freeman for making it possible for this movie to be made.