Double Doc Pairing: THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR and THE ALABAMA SOLUTION

Two thematically linked, Academy-Award nomiated documentaries, just in time for the Oscars this week!

THE WINES:

Santa Julia Natural El Zorrito Orange Chardonnay 2024

La Bascule "Babushka" Rose of Syrah 2022

Elwood Prison Wine

Les Vignerons d'Estézargues Alma Viva 2023

Transcript

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The following is an overview of the events of a 70-minute period on a Friday night in summer, June 2nd, 2023, which would become the basis for the Netflix documentary called The Perfect Neighbor. The time is 8.30 p.m., a warm summer Friday evening. Imagine for a moment, you live in the quaintly named Quail Run neighborhood, and it's Friday. June 2. The natural wind down to a busy week. Continue to imagine if you will that you're at home, likely watching television or catching up on some work while your children are enjoying the evening play of a summer nights outside. As the children play some of their toys and items get strewn about in the communal green space between your building and the one on the other side. The neighborhood has its own cast of characters and none more infamous than Susan Lawrence. Susan's reputation is known far and wide as she has been a particularly difficult neighbor for many in the community. Her history of confronting the neighborhood children about the noise level of their playtime out in the adjacent green space has been a constant. And she's had a long list of nuisance complaint like calls to police. So much so that police have taken to telling you and the other neighbors to just ignore it or try not to antagonize her any further. But none of that is on your mind. at the moment, as you relax into your hard one Friday evening. It's now 845pm. And while you're winding down inside, your son, whom you have no reason to doubt, runs in and tells you that Susan threw a skate at him, hitting him in the leg. Your children tell you that following the skate incident, Susan then took their tablet and smashed it. They go on to tell you that she hurled racial slurs at them as well. While this isn't necessarily new behavior for Susan, It seems like an escalation on her part. It's now 8.50 p.m. and you're annoyed. But you have to deal with this nonsense from your neighbor, Susan, yet again. So by 8.54, you decide you need to figure out what's what and then cross the street to have a word with Susan. At the same time, the Susan is already on the phone with the local Marion County Sheriff's Office, complaining about the children's rowdiness and about their alleged trespassing. Susan makes sure to tell dispatchers. that she feels threatened. They advise her to lock doors and await deputies who are being dispatched. It's now 8.58pm and you, followed by one of your sons, knock on Susan's door, asking her to come out and have a word, specifically to explain what she did or did not do to your children. It's now 9pm and a shot rings out, stunning the neighborhood. This Susan has fired one shot of her .38 caliber handgun. directly through the door, hitting you in the chest. You collapse immediately right in front of your son. Inside Susan calls the police a second time, saying something to the effect of they're trying to break down my door. And she tells them that she shot someone. Neighbors stunned by the distant sound of a gunshot then panic as the shrill words in a child's voice ring out. She shot my mom. She shot my mom. A neighbor arrives and performs CPR as a crowd gathers, but you, your body is not responding to the attempts. It's now 9.04 p.m. and you are lying on the ground. A crowd of disturbed friends, neighbors and family gathered. Your children nearby shielded by empathetic neighbors. Susan is still locked in her home, but officers order her to come out. It's now 9.07 p.m. Deputies perform CPR on you with blood pooling. Emergency services are requested. Confirmed on your body is one gunshot wound visible, but no exit wound found. It's now 912 p.m. EMS paramedics arrive. You are transported to a hospital in Ocala, but at 940 p.m. you are pronounced dead of a gunshot wound. Your name is Ajay K. Ajay. Owens and your unfortunate and unnecessary death will become the subject of a very important documentary called The Perfect Neighbor. What you just heard were the extraordinary details of a 70 minute period from an otherwise ordinary summer Friday evening. These events would alter one neighborhood and family's life forever. And the resulting documentary is Academy Award nominated, The Perfect Neighbor, which premiered at Sundance in 2025. And it's the first film in our double feature wine pairing today. That's right. A double Academy Award nominated documentary feature. So the other side of this double bill is the Alabama Solution directed by Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman. In 2019, the filmmakers visited Easterling Correctional Facility, a prison that sat at 200% capacity for what seemed a positive occasion. They were there to record a religious revival complete with barbecue being held in the prison yard. But it turned out that this was just a glorified public relations stunt. While they were there, several prisoners took them aside and told them stories of beatings, stabbings, and subhuman conditions. This sparked an immersive six-year investigation to discover the reality behind one of the nation's deadliest prison systems. Through unprecedented direct access and video shot on contraband cell phones, the filmmakers learn from the men inside about a suspicious and violent death. The story unfolds in real time. revealing that the incident isn't isolated and that the official version appears far from the truth. As the men fight for their own survival, they embark on a campaign of resistance against all odds. They learn the law, rope in the federal government to investigate the Alabama prison system, after which Alabama Governor Kay Ivey demands that whatever issues there may or may not be with their prison system, it demands, quote, an Alabama solution, unquote. and not the federal government telling the state what to do. And what follows from there is a years long struggle to enact true change with prisoners beaten, killed, flung into solitary confinement for the national attention they've garnered, new quote unquote super prisons being built as the quote unquote solution that Alabama concocts, a prison strike that interrupts the prison's true meaning for existing, a slave labor pipeline the state depends on and so garners more. national attention. And throughout it all, we get direct testimony about what's going down in the prison. And the raw phone footage archives something else. It humanizes the prisoners, allowing them to undercut their public identities as convicted criminals. The film in that sense isn't just combating abuse, it's pushing back against even a sympathetic audience's tendency to pigeonhole prisoners as we're watching them. The full humanity of these men is something that's easy to brush aside. And that's something that the Alabama solution reminds us of at every moment. So that is what we are cracking open today, people, a double feature, the perfect neighbor and the Alabama solution. And now here's the kickass intro before we get started. We have opinions on just about everything. Sometimes those opinions are spot on. Sometimes they go down easier with a glass of wine. This is Vintertainment, the wine and entertainment pairing podcast. Welcome everybody to Vintertainment. This is of course the podcast where we pair wine with entertainment. It is as simple as that. Understanding wine is hard, but one of our fave ways to learn more about wine and explore the many options that are out there is try to consider what kind of wine matches the tone, style, and aesthetic of the movie, show, album, book, or comic you want to enjoy, or vice versa. You have a wine on hand. Now, what kind of entertainment is going to match the wine? Does that not make any sense to you? Don't worry, we're about to demonstrate. Just follow our leads and you'll soon see how there's never just one pairing that makes sense. The universe of wine and entertainment is vast, my friends, and both take years of creator's life to make. So we highly recommend getting out of your comfort zone and experiencing as much of both as time and health allows. And shout out to our sponsor for this season, Curated Wine Shop. No idea where to begin finding a wine that pairs with your movie. That's okay, literally no one does but Curated is here to help. They accept every Vintertainment inspired challenge and will curate the selection to match your palette. Just tell them what you're trying to pair with your budget, your preferences, and they will show you the way. Curated is a boutique wine shop on La Brea Avenue, mid city Los Angeles, founded and operated by Peeps currently and previously part of the entertainment ecosystem. They are Johnny, Kelly, Alison, and Mia. They are all fantastic. Go meet them and ask them to help you find a wine to pair with your movie. They carry an ever-changing wine-raging selection of small lot artisanal wines from the known and comforting to the completely unique. Reds, whites, rosés, oranges, sparklings, dry wines, sweet wines, and everything in between, check them out at curated-wines.com. And while you're at it, follow us on sub stack, VintertainmentStudios.com, where we'll keep you all up to date on our upcoming events, as well as bonus wine and entertainment pairings, collabs with other writers, filmmakers, and wine peeps. That is curated-wines.com for curated, and Vintertainmentstudios.com for us, Vintertainment Pros. And now, for our wine trivia question of the week. Mr. prison wine is an alcoholic beverage typically made from fruit, sugar, hot water, and sometimes bread, mistakenly thinking it contains living yeast to start fermentation, though it does not. This concoction is left to ferment in a plastic bag or jug. Now the Irish have a nickname for their own prison wine. Is that nickname? A. Pot of Gold B. Rock Shandy C. Fecking Globeshite or D. Mountain Dew That is once again for our listeners A. Pot of Gold B. Rock Shandy C. Fecking Globeshite or D. Mountain Dew Okay, I'm going to talk through this. All right. So I think a pot of gold is a concept that has been ascribed to the Irish through the years. uh Possible uh rock shandy. uh Possible shandy is definitely sort of an Irish colloquialism, I think rock you get they have a long history with rocks and mountains and hills and uh fecking gobshite is something someone would make up when they didn't have another option. ah staring at Dave and mountain dew is that could be the origin of our mountain dew. could be a reference to a really intense, you know, alcohol from the past. um So if I am ranking options, I'm going to say in us least likely pot of gold. Secondly, slightly. Secondly, slightly. Thanking God shit. Third least likely Mountain Dew. I'm gonna go with be rock shandy or my second. Nope, go for it. You sticking to it? sticking to it? All right, guys, he chose B, Rock Shandy. And the answer is D, Mountain Dew. So my, all right, my logic was. Unfortunately, maybe your logic is right. I actually don't know. I only I saw this as a quick little bit of like they call it Mountain Dew in the prison systems in Ireland. And I was pressed for time to get to this episode. I just got back from Portugal after a week away, guys. So I'm a little I'm a little just like showing up for today. So I saw that wrote it down. And folks, if you want to know why it's called Mountain Dew, everyone has a computer in their pocket these days. So find out. I look deeply into it. Let us know. Go to Vintertainment studios dot com and hit us up on our site and let us know. That's right. All right. Well, now what did we think of Act one of The Perfect Neighbor? We're to start there and then we're to move on to the Alabama solution. And normally we do these things in three acts, guys, today because we're doing a double feature and we don't want this episode to go over long. We're going to do two acts per documentary and give our wine thoughts and thoughts on the movie. So what did we think? of act one of two of the perfect neighbor and what are our initial line thoughts Dallas kick us off with perfect neighbor. All right. I didn't know much about the particulars of this story. I knew that it was racially motivated in some way, but I didn't know much about the specifics. Act one was uh was well paced from a storytelling sort of editing standpoint. It gave us the POV of the cops who had already been called out numerous times for the neighbor Susan's antics. uh That POV of the cops cams. um made her behavior and the sort of discord between she and the neighbors all seem routine and harmless. So from a storytelling standpoint, lowering the bar, you know, giving us a place to kind of lift off from and lower our sort of, you know, our resolve. was very smart. A great place to begin a doc like this um sort of ground level. um And I think it definitely mirrors the neighborhoods response to this kind of behavior because it was routine. So I can't imagine many of them ever expected it to go this place. So that was a great way to go where eventually would go. So that was a great sort of uh storytelling, editing tactic on the part of the director, producers and editors. um I think what's Evident is that the police and their attempt to appease Susan leaned on the neighbors to ignore her behavior as just pointless and annoying. Perhaps there were other facts and factors, but from the information provided, seemed as if Susan was clearly the agitating force in many of these interactions. And a case could be made that the cops could have perhaps taken the interactions more uh seriously. But Act one was, I think. uh the kind of perfect note from a storytelling perspective as a person sort of with an emotional connection to the story as a viewer. How to say this. It was also very sinister. Act one, there was such dread in the calmness of everyone involved in the cops in everyone. It was there was such a sort of flat kind of response and knowing kind of where this would eventually go. That was a very sort of it's very unpleasant. It was a very unpleasant sort of note in that it's sort of when when we talk about wine, there's a sort of, you know, agitating sort of force sometimes and lots of wines. And for me, that Chardonnay And Chardonnay definitely is trying for me. I don't know why I really haven't isolated what it is specifically about many Chardonnays that I find trying. But um it it made me think Chardonnay. I wanted something that mirrored the sort of trying nature of this act one. It seemed It was a lot to stick out. I was like, okay, I kind of want to turn this off because I do think of these stories as murder porn. And I'm not a fan of that in the stretch of the imagination. We've had two decades just non stop murder porn. And while some of the storytelling is phenomenal, and I absolutely identify empathize with everyone involved and want to shield every child that's ever a victim of any of this or, you know, anyone. It's We tend to forget these stories so quickly as we consume them. And um that again is sort of annoying. um I'm rambling now. Anyway, act one was very trying and I find Chardonnays to be fairly trying. That's why I'm constantly trying them. And I'm feeling a Chardonnay here because I want something that kind of mirrors the experience I had with. one. um It needed to be chewed upon a bit. And uh for me, that makes me think of Chardonnay. Yeah. Yeah. What about you? You thinking? right. So I was thinking, you know, the film opens with the police body cam footage, which will never not be an ominous thing to watch. It's true. um But this is also where it's important to point out that the police were called so frequently that their body cam footage is the entire documentary, more or less. Right. There are almost. And this is is this is a fact about this documentary. There are almost there are no reenactments, very few interviews with anyone after the fact. The filmmakers could have done all of the above. They could have like stitched together different things to like weave their own narrative around the events that happened with all these police visits. But when they realized how much material they were working with just from the fly on the wall body cam recordings, they opted to present the story through that alone. And that's a big part of why this doc is so powerful. I also have to correct you on one thing. The police weren't actually ever called for Susan's antics. She called them every single time, supposedly about the rest of the neighborhood's antics. The neighborhood thought the police showing up was ridiculous and that there was no call for it. No need. Yeah, no, I when I say antics, it's it meaning the her calling incessantly is the antique. So them coming out. You said the police were called about her antics. did I? And here's my point. Let me get to the point of why I'm bringing that up. Yeah. I think this is the important thing. um The police pretty quickly sided with the neighborhood. They realized Susan was essentially the hypochondriac version of a complainer. And so there wasn't anything really for them to quote unquote take seriously. If anything, it was precisely the opposite. They learned to take nothing. Susan said too seriously. And the rest of the neighborhood, while annoyed with Susan, never expressed any fear for their safety or ever called the police on her. Like, they were never there to tame Susan. They were always called out to do the opposite, which they were like, OK, we're never going to do that because now we have this lady's number. We know what she's trying to do. like, we're just, unless she presents evidence of something honest, like, we understand what's happening here. So. This is a little bit like watching a horror movie because the movie, especially, you know, the one thing the filmmakers did to set up the documentary because the police body cam footage, it's almost all in chronological order except for the opening, which we see sort of where there's a hint that there's going to be a tragic event, a shooting of some kind. And then we immediately go back to the beginning and then start to see everything chronologically. So like watching a horror movie, we, the audience, know we're watching a horror movie. So things that would be innocuous in real life seem like warning signs. But real life isn't really like that, right? You're just living day by day. Time is passing. These are actually kind of big leaps of time. This wasn't like an absolute period or anything like that. and a little old lady with a racist mouth really isn't on anyone's red alert, high level danger bingo card. So I just in terms of like the police taking things seriously. That's my one quibble with that. My approach to this was like, no, look, she was the instigator not only, yes, she was the antagonizer, but she was also the only reason the police were involved at all was her calling them every single time. And that does change the entire dynamic of how the police are viewing the situation. And they're like, well, she just keeps calling us and we're not going to do anything to this neighborhood. Like they were on the side of the neighborhood. And I think the police even mentioned like near the beginning they were like will you call us if you think you need us about her and the neighborhood you know neighborhood was like yeah, you know like that again. is this? Again, it is one of those cases where... You know, having been, you know, I've had some family members who've been in situations like this before and having those conversations about it being this thing that's just continuous. And, know, the cops never took it seriously. You know, when you reflect back on the tone in the person's voice during all the calls and how it was always a level 10, you know, you start thinking about sort of mental health calls and all this stuff. So I guess more, you know, and I did misspeak when I said that, you know, they called about her antics. You're definitely correct on that. But uh I do think in terms of like the energy around it, and of course, this is all hindsight. You know, this is all, you know, what a coulda shoulda. uh But it does kind of bring to mind the bigger issue of the resources of cops being called out for mental health situations or being able to kind of recommend certain things. So but yeah, again, I definitely can see that, you know, that. The other thing I wanted to make that is important to note about that though is, you know, you mentioned how we forget these stories so quickly, but that's not always the point of the documentary. This documentary, when they requested all the police body cam footage, it was while the trial of Susan was ongoing and the investigation into what she was doing was ongoing. And them requesting the footage and starting to put the documentary together, because this takes years, right? This isn't something you put together, snap of your fingers. But the police knew the documentary was being put together. there's a lot like the filmmakers who are on record of like, we started to take this seriously and wanted to pursue making it a documentary because we wanted to make sure justice was done and was seen to be done. And that probably did pressure the police to see it through because they knew this footage was being requested. and used in some way, or form, which is there, you know, the documentary filmmakers are allowed to do. And so it's not just about the audience seeing it. That wasn't the pure point of sometimes making these documentaries. is putting the pressure on the subject of the documentary itself, whatever that subject or one of the subjects of the documentary. Right. And that is as important as whatever we, you know, once upon a time, there weren't that many documentaries being made maybe. But these days, it's just there's so much content. I get it. but it's still important and we still have to do it. And sometimes just making it is kind of its own enough. But on that note, so this film, it's a nice slow burn to start. You have the little bit of a cold opening and then after that very slow burn, you're just watching police call after police call. There isn't really even much of an escalation, which is why the neighborhood isn't really on high alert. either. They're like, this is annoying, but nothing's really happening. It's just this neighbor who will not let this shit go. But she's also just very not a not an immediate threat of any kind. So it's a very slow burn start, almost heartening at first, with the police actually being neighborly with the neighborhood, accepting kids for being kids, looking out for the community, even though it's plainly a low income neighborhood with a high percentage of people of color in it. So even though you know, there's a tragedy brewing, I was thinking at this point for the first half act one, I was thinking something lighter and gentler, something perhaps a bit thought provoking, but not challenging per se, something frankly, neighborly, like, because the neighborhood is really, Susan is the antagonist, but the neighborhood is the protagonist. They're the subject of the documentary. And so a neighborly wine is what I was thinking. neighborly wine. All So something that responds well to like sharing Sharing or something where a neighborly component is part of the wine story. Something like that. That's where my brain was going. all right. On that too. right. Yeah. All right. So let's definitely move on to act two acts two for me was uh brutal. mean, it goes where you expect it to go. um It's sort of a stripped down look at a reality that kind of. faces many people, you know, it's sort of uh these neighboring forces, these tense neighboring forces that are budding against and rolling over one another constantly. um And eventually, there's this sort of explosion that kind of just sends shockwaves through as we see in the doc, entire lives, especially the lives of the victims children. um It's not a pleasant story, nor was it going to be. nor should it be. It is not comforting in any way. um It is just fucking brutal. And it uh sort of is an agitation and agitates uh my psyche. And I'm sure anyone else who sort of, you know, who's watched it um and ah it just annoyed the absolute shit out of me. ah It's enraging. It's all the things. It is all the fucking things. You can cut the fucks out. But it's all it's all the things. um So do we know? God, no, I don't want a god. Geez. We will do a fuck a fuck counter one of these days. Anyway, fuck free fuck a fuck free episode. That's right. We'll call it the fuck free episode anyway. It'll be a challenge because that will in fact be a challenge for us. It's very true, actually. It's very especially when we're together. um Checking ourselves every 10 seconds. But yeah, Act Two goes exactly where you expect it to go. It is, like I said, it is the result of these forces abutting one another and just eventually sort of exploding. uh And again, with the unpleasant note and the unpleasant sort of factor of the Chardonnay, I started thinking I wanted a Chardonnay that was even more trying than usual. uh something that was uh had an extra sort of again, agitating element on top of the things I already sort of uh don't respond well to as we said earlier, I don't necessarily respond well to this category of uh content, even though it isn't as necessary and does wonderful things as a viewer. uh Not necessarily my thing. uh So yeah, that's kind of where I am. I started thinking, okay, Chardonnay, that is perhaps even coarser or more unpleasant than I usually find them. Yeah. How about you? right. So so for me, ah when the tragedy happens, I really clocked that the core of the story now, instead of just the neighborhood, it was the family. Absolutely right. The children who are most affected by the loss of their parents. Also, the incredible way the father arrives and the parents were divorced, but he just takes charge of the kids, taking them in, being the rock they desperately needed. This was plainly going to upend his life. as well and the love displayed here was incredible. It was just pure. And this to me wound up being the core of the story. The love and connection and the way the family in the neighborhood itself banded together to pick through the wreckage. So it's so funny because you called this like murder porn and I just keep seeing this as kind of the opposite of that really like the murder is there. It's something that happens. You don't see it. do. do not show anything like they skip over that part. They're like, because it's not murder porn. It's about everything surrounding it. And I do think that this documentary in particular, and this could just be like Optimus Pessimus glass half half full, glass half empty kind of approach to things. But I just saw the everything else that this documentary was doing versus and the fact that, yes, they needed to make sure. that this lady didn't get away with it, that she wasn't able, you know, this takes place in Florida. And we find out in Act two that she's going to attempt to use the Stand Your Ground law, which was in place at the time to get away with it. And this required the neighborhood then to band together to push the police. The police were even on their side. But one, there's the cops who showed up every time. Then there's the higher ups who actually have to make and the, you know, the actual prosecutor and whatnot. And they've got to choose to pursue this and see it through. And in Florida, with the Stand Your Ground law, this was a tough choice. This was not an easy thing to get them to fully investigate and see through to the end. So there did take some pressure. That's why making the documentary wound up pressuring them as well. And it was so important for the filmmakers to have pursued during this time. But I saw all of that happening. Not just the murder was the reason it all had to happen. But the doc really focuses on that, not so much just, like the murder porn part is such a blip on the radar, at least my take on the way I saw it, I took in this documentary. So I was now thinking of finding a wine that represented the parent-child relationship. And the bond between them. So I still wanted a lighter, pleasant wine, something that also ideally represented community as a positive force because That's what this documentary really came crashing into mean, especially because this one, you know, one interesting thing between these two docs we're going to explore a little bit here is the perfect neighbor has the tragedy happens. And so there is no such thing as a happy ending when the tragedy has is part of it. Right. But with the tragedy having happened, this doc has a quote unquote happy ending. In terms of what could possibly happen once that has now happened. It's like how does this roll out and the Alabama solution does not and so and one interesting element between the two is in the perfect neighbor the police are on their side and in the Alabama solution they are the antagonist, know the the correctional facility and the law are vehemently opposed to the subjects of the doc and so When the cops are on your side, you get justice. When they are not, no matter, the Alabama solution, there's so many things these men try to do. We're about to cover that in just a moment here, but nothing works, right? It's like, it's just the wall you hit when they cannot be on your side, when they are the opposing force is so severe that the perfect neighbor, This is a happy ending by comparison. And I definitely wanted to wine that not only celebrated the parent-child relationship and community coming together, but that something that was going to be lighter and very pleasant to drink. That's where I was looking at here. Okay, all right, I get that for sure, I like it. All right. All right. All right. Now, before we reveal the wines for that one. Yeah, before we reveal the wines for that one, we are going to cover the Alabama solution act one and two, and then we will reveal the wines for both at the very end. So act one, our initial wine thoughts we're going to inverse here. I'll start us off on the Alabama solution. So this is a fucking bleak. Right. However bleak or dark we thought Perfect Neighbor was, it's got nothing on the Alabama solution. uh Neighbor is about a lone figure twisted by the hatred of all people, not her. But the Alabama solution is about an entire state run complex that sees its victims as nothing more than fodder for their prison industrial complex. It's a calculated greed driven industry that cares nothing for anyone that might stand in their way while also being buttressed by the tough on crime quote unquote rhetoric that keeps the public on their side thinking the public thinking in good faith that such toughness is merited. That said, the prisoners are relatively calm and keep a faith that seems impossible all throughout. There's intense hope here, whether it's going to pay off or not isn't known during Act One, but it's inspiring and keeps the film from being a pure misery to watch. The families of the incarcerated also, they add additional hope and humanity to all these proceedings. So you could go dark and rustic and unpleasant with this one, but I did not think that was actually fitting. You don't drink to match the villains of a piece, you drink to match the heroes here, I think. So. Nothing too dark, nothing too bitter. Something with friction, yes. ah But you know, something with friction might be necessary, but not unpleasantly so was my initial thinking. And not too dark, not too rustic. Those are all my initial thoughts here. How about you, Okay. Yeah, I can see that pairing. I can see that. um I think Act one drops us into a world of the contemporary enslavement that's happening in Alabama, and many other places. It is a very lucrative system that likely provides generational wealth to scores of people involved in the operation of these penal systems. That's just the way it's gone. many places in the south and, you know, wider areas. Now it's essentially just referred to as the continuation of state sanctioned slavery. um And I think here we are introduced to men who have, of course, run afoul of the criminal justice system and have been placed in the hands of corrections officers. They run the gamut in terms of ethnicity. It begins with a painful sort of Sour note of a prisoner's death, of course, which kind of serves as our jumping off point. uh There are, however, sort of wisps of hope in the form of these inmates themselves, which is just so fucking fascinating to see uh these men in absolute dire situations still manage to have a sense of humor, develop relationships, think about the future. uh you know, sort of get in touch with sort of bigger purpose, whether that be God or whether that be sort of giving back to their community. It's, you know, in this sort of stasis, they have time to consider it to think about it. um And I think act one, while they are responding, of course, to this horrible situation and these deaths, the idea that they are able to capitalize on this opportunity. um You know, after this revival meeting, to get the word out to still try and find someone to hear their pleas. It is just really life affirming. It is beautiful. And it's also again, enraging and maddening because this again is a story of individuals up against institutions that cannot be moved without massive, massive, massive infrastructure responding to uh rarely one event. It is rare that infrastructure responds to one event that then affects some sort of change like this. um for me, that was uh that was very bitter. uh again trying so uh I initially was thinking again some sort of chardonnay in there but I started thinking orange. I started thinking sort of the sort of class of you know, orange wines that kind of natural maybe fermentation that you know that thing that's a little inexplicable that thing that's a little trying for a lot of people that thing that's a little sort of gray area that thing that you know, forces you to kind of sit with it and find something pleasant and enjoyable about it if you can. Because there are a lot of people who can't find, you know, who just don't can't, you know, cotton to sort of the. funny. I love orange wine so much. Right. I never think of it as challenging or trying. No, think like, yes, there's some bitterness or some friction. There's some complexity there and all that fun stuff like you can't pair it with anything. But just to finish this one thought. Yeah. But orange wine, like I get what you're saying. You're not wrong. It's just that for me, I'm like, I think I want something pleasant. And that's when I go to orange rather than anything else. So for me, it's like I because, you we had this discussion. I really enjoy the orange experience, but I enjoy it because I find it forces me to sit with the wine ah longer than other classes of sort of wine. And I find the sort of the experience of sitting with it fun. I find that, you enjoyable. So maybe we enjoy it for different reasons, but I still I still definitely enjoy it. So, yeah, I was thinking maybe something in the orange sort of realm. But yeah, that's where I am. Yeah. Yeah. All right. All right. Cool. Now on to act two. Wine thoughts. Dallas, kick us off for act two. Just jump right in. How did act two change or just stay the same for you? So I think Act Two sort of provides uh a window into America's own humanitarian crisis right now, one of I suppose, but probably its longest running at the moment, institutionally speaking. And even with this sort of horrific globally consumed film, will it change? I don't know. But at least their eyes on the problem now. And I think that's the beauty. of many of these documentaries, even as we discussed earlier, you know, with the idea that being sort of murder porn to some ah that is a quality of that class of film. But the other thing these films do well is move eyes to a problem. And I think this film does it in a big and impactful way. But Act two does take this sort of glimmers of hope in the eyes of these inmates that we observed in Act one. and then shows how it gets caught in a vice and stripped of its potency and how difficult it is and becomes to maintain any semblance of hope. I think the character of Robert Earl, this is not really a spoiler, but I think the character of Robert Earl who uh essentially lands as our uh lightning rod for this story. I think in previous eras, this man would have been held up and many of these guys as heroes who were standing up not only for their humanity, but standing up for the humanity of anyone who happens to find themselves in the arms of the law in this situation, because at the end of the day, we operate under this concept that, you know, our penal system uh is somehow re uh it's it's rehabilitation, um it should be rehabilitation focused and it just Is it? I don't know. I don't know. I don't. don't even a little bit, you know, it and uh it is one of those. Meaning meaning I don't have firsthand knowledge. So, uh you know, I'm sure there are We know the recidivism rates, so we do have first hand knowledge. Like they're terrible. There's no rehabilit. There's very little precious little rehabilitation happening. Not to mention if rehabilitation was the point, we would need a better way to introduce, reintroduce people back into society. And even the most progressive states right now in America do not do that. Exactly. We do everything in our power to make it as hard on them as possible because they're criminals. They've been convicted of something. And so they're supposed to continually be punished. And the problem with that is, is they have no other options. They have to go back to like they can't make a living. They can't actually be reintroduced to society. So, yes, we do all have we have enough firsthand knowledge. We have the stats, we have the figures, we have the info. And no, this is our prison system has never been to date about rehabilitation. I'm glad you said that. I was baiting you into saying that very effectively and passionately, because I knew you would. that's going to be our, our sound bite. But yes, you're correct. It is not in any way, shape or form about rehabilitation. um It is great business. It has always been great business. It has held up the lives of families and entities and corporations in this country since its inception. And to that point, they, you know, the more people that are in prison, the prisons get money for that, which is why I want to release people they want people right, they don't want they want people to come back like the recidivism is baked in to the whole thing. We cannot have private prison systems. It makes no sense. You cannot let people get rich off of people. continuing in this cyclical uh program in the the cyclical in and out and yet that is what that's what they exist for and all the incentives are wrong all the incentives You know, there's there there have been a couple of fairly deep dive pieces by some fantastic black journalists and writers over the years that draw a direct line from chattel enslavement and slavery uh unbroken into the prison system. um And it is it is an unbelievable straight line. and transition. And it's fascinating that somehow we collectively uh I don't want to say we accept it, but it is sort of a cultural acceptance that prisons somehow exist in the form it should exist in and It's just not the case. It's almost as if the idea of trying to affect any change in the prison system is so daunting that we just don't know where to start or how to get it done. And. The problem, the problems are a couple fold in that from a public standpoint, like take away the politicians and whatnot, right? Because that they have their own incentives because they're getting paid. Like, you we saw in the Alabama solution in Act two, we see how the governor and the correctional facilities, like they have so many incentives from business to give them free labor. Like the businesses want to keep this going. And there's a strike that happens in Act two that almost breaks through because the strike goes on for like just weeks, but it's like long enough that like it's a crisis for the state because they cannot function without the slave labor that are being provided by these prisoners. So, but the thing about the whole tough on crime thing is that then the public goes along with it because in America is still because we are a Catholic Christian nation that's all about guilt and all about punishment. And it's funny because Christianity is about forgiveness, but motherfucker in practice. No, it is not. It has never been. And we, we want to see people punished for doing wrong. The worst part is most of us have probably done infractions that are in some minor way criminal at some point in our lives. And we're right. And we didn't get caught. or you know, we weren't charged or whatever it was, or we were, you know, perched on it, we had some privilege that we got off the hook. And yet if someone gets caught and then convicted, it's just like punishment forever and ever and ever. And if you then from a public standpoint, you get you you're not tough on crime, or you're less tough on crime in any way, or form, and something goes wrong, which of course, something something will go wrong, no matter what your policy is. someone will get out of prison and do another crime, even the way it currently exists that happens. So if you're less tough on crime, yeah, sometimes they're going to get out of prison or you they're you try to rehabilitate them. So you let that leash go and some people will still be bad people that will happen. And then immediately we're like, no more of that. Nothing but tough on crime going forward and we're caught in this cycle, we're trapped in this thing where it's like, okay, we have to be tough on crime, but then the public isn't even really fully cognizant or aware or fully clocking that what that means is this slave labor, know, uh correctional industrial complex where it's like, is but this is not what should be happening, imprison them, fine. And again, I try to I try to say this as much as I can, like, when COVID hit, we just had to stay home, you know, for like, A year. And we went insane. It was torture for most of us. Now imagine being in prison. That is a punishment. You don't need to heap all these all this other bullshit on top of being fucking in prison. Yes, it shouldn't be. ah You shouldn't get rooms like, you know, it shouldn't be like enjoyable, per se, in terms of your imprisonment. Like there shouldn't be a luxury prison. But nevertheless, imprisonment itself. is a major, major punishment. we don't need to conc- it doesn't every corner of your life doesn't have to be misery while you're imprisoned. It's that is too much. That is the cruel and unusual bullshit. And for some reason, we can't draw a line that makes sense of where that cruel and unusual begins. Yeah. To go back to something you mentioned here, um I will say that the undertaking of getting, I think, something like 10 to 13 prisons, prison populations on board with this work stoppage. And if you guys uh aren't familiar with the film, uh the characters, uh the prisoners orchestrated a massive resistance within the prison population statewide statewide a work stoppage, because they had decided that the only way they could get federal attention or media attention was by doing something that hit the Alabama prison system in uh the nuts or be their pocket. um And uh they managed to do this in the age of cell phones. by using cell phones, getting them inside the prisons and contraband every of course, everything's contraband, but also orchestrating it so that this on mass work stop. for those people that are like, you gave the prisoners cell phones and it's like, no, motherfucker. They snuck. No one gave them cell phones like they snuck in. Right. But it is it cannot be understated that when I said earlier that these men in different eras would have been hailed as American heroes who were standing up, even though they were convicted, uh many of them justly and some unjustly of crimes and were in uh the care of the prison system, they still managed to orchestrate. a massive resistance, because it was the only thing they knew how to do at that point, their fists weren't getting a response, their cries weren't getting a response, their pleas weren't getting a response, their deaths weren't getting a response. So they did a wonderfully American thing, which is orchestrated a work stoppage. that, of course, in the most American way, actually got a fucking response, right? And even though it didn't turn out the way it would have or should have in their dreams and fantasies, they managed to do a fantastic and wonderful goddamn thing. And the federal government did respond. Of course, they responded at a snail's pace. And many of these uh Many of these sort of lawsuits will, of course, still be in process for in the next decade. They had lots of pro se lawsuits. uh And ah I'm still sort of fascinated by the idea that they managed to pull this off. That is such a wonderful fucking note. It is so beautiful. That was the mountaintop for me for this film. That was the apex of this kind of the story, the narrative here. um Anyway, wine wise, um I'm still somewhere between a chardonnay and or when you know in the orange kind of realm and you know, maybe some overlap there. Yeah, anyway, how about you? What do you think? So for me, the second half of this movie is all about organizing as a team, right? Like getting shit done against a system that cares very little for your efforts or about your efforts. It's about collective action, railing against authority, doing things differently. So a wine, I was thinking about a wine that story can match those elements, which are the beating heart of this particular story. So. Then also a wine as mentioned earlier, a wine with textures. So the friction that I mentioned earlier, so something with a little bit of friction, maybe fizz as well. I was thinking about bubbles and sparkling, but again, not too much, right? Ideally both, a layered and textured wine with some friction, maybe some sparkle, but nothing too intense. um Now it should also be noted this movie, that when the documentary was nominated for the Academy Award, The main subjects were all thrown back into solitary confinement, quote unquote, for their protection, according to the state of Alabama, but obviously as retaliation. And it's the worst possible timing for this movie to suddenly be getting nominated for an Academy Award and getting all this attention because this current federal government and Department of Justice is never going to do jack shit about something. like this or looking into the Alabama corrections facility. So these poor guys are going to have to wait for a non lawless Department of Justice to possibly try to finally correct what Alabama remains committed to doing now in this documentary as well. The federal government does get involved. They there's a lot of hope. that's sort of raised about what the federal government might do, but then this is called the Alabama solution because Alabama is able to implement its own quote unquote solution to the problem, which is unideal. And this reminds me a lot of like the Voter uh Protection Act, right? If the federal government had to come into these places that historically, like I totally get the idea that like, yes, the federal the division between federal and state, I get that. But when certain places that are historically bad faith actors in doing these things and treating people with their constitutional rights and treating them humanely, just like with the Voter Protection Act, where they were like, OK, these places will never do it on their own. We have to make sure they we do it for them. And I feel like this is something that, especially in places like the Deep South, that just do not give a shit about the rights of people like convicted criminals. You we have to the federal government is going to have to go in there to fix this. Like, I don't think it's ever going to be corrected locally. So. Nevertheless, my wine is going to be about celebrating the inmates, the fighters, the group that almost managed to strike their way through this insane capitalist industrial prison system of Alabama. So just like with The Perfect Neighbor, I'm paired my wine with the protagonists of the dock, not the antagonists of the dock. So that all said, what are our wines? Here's where we reveal them folks. Dallas, us off. What are your pairings? Um, are we going to do them with are we gonna both gonna do are you gonna do both yours and I do both mines or should we do them? uh sort of thinking of this as kind of a testing flight and I'm then pairing at the end with one of those options by the entire double feature. ah You do your thing and I'll do mine after. Okay. God, that seems probably an easier way to get through it. um So as I said earlier, Chardonnay for me was this I'm not a huge fan oh of Chardonnays. um If I am a fan of Chardonnay, it's going to be that sort of un-oaked kind of chablis, more minerally like style. And uh getting into the second film, I started getting a little I like the term dirty, you know, started getting a little muddy a little, you know, a little, you know, a little difficult, for lack of a better term. And that started making me think of orange. And I went with you know, what you bet your sweet Bippy you and actually you and I Dave have actually tried a wine from these guys. last year down at a local place we go to called, oh God, what's it called? The one near my house. you Tabula rasa. Tabula rasa. um So uh I did, I ended up pairing with this a, um I'm sorry, gotta find my notes here. Hold on one second. Where are your notes? There we are. I went with the Bodega Santa Julia, uh which uh was created in honor of Julia Zuccardi, part of a third generation. of leaders from the Zuccardi family. It is the Santa Julia Winery, which represents the family's commitment to producing the highest quality wines through sustainable practices that uh protect the environment and uplift the local community. And one thing about this double feature is that um there's a sort of through line for each story. And it is the sense of community in our first feature, the perfect neighbor. um You could tell the moment everyone in that community heard and figured out what happened, they just descended on these kids and wrapped them up in their arms and try to shield them as best they could from the reality of what was going on. And I liked the story of this winery for sure, because they are so committed to their community. and the community itself has witnessed lots of, you know, misfortune through the years. So as I said, this is the Zurito or the Little Fox by Santa Julia Zuccardi. It is a pretty impressive orange wine, organic natural wine from the Mendoza region. is 100 % chardonnay, fermented on the skins for 40 five days, uh unfiltered, vegan and made with uh one of my favorite uh phrases, minimal intervention. That's how I like to live my life by the way. It checks all the boxes for natural wine while maintaining clean flavors and refreshing acidity. You can expect lots of uh It's an amber colored one, of course, with you get the lemon, the apricot, the orange peel. There's some floral notes. It is pretty bold structure wise, I guess. um And I guess I would call it medium body. But I imagine I imagine there people who think it's very full body full body. um And uh yeah, it's extended skin contact, of course. So uh That is sort of a marriage between both the, as I was saying, orange and the Chardonnay. So, yeah, it takes a little time to kind of. uh So that one line for both documentaries? Yeah. for the for the double feature for the after the full double for the full double feet double feature. It's that and I should say I initially chose um the Gelson's Chardonnay Dave and I have also tried Gelson's um does their own uh sort of batches of wines now some of them are surprisingly good like I say if you their label on it. They're very good. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know where they're coming from. Because they're not a winery, right? So some wineries making it for them. But whoever's making them, I mean, they're not cheap, though. Yeah. So they're plainly buying like, uh good juice that actually costs a certain amount of money. And therefore the wines even under a white label, like, you know, putting the Trader Joe's label on it, or the Kirkland signature label. And in this case, it's the Gelson's label, but it ain't Dirt she it's not like 1299 like Trader Joe's. Yeah. Yeah this stuff It's like it's Gelson's label and forty five dollars, please and you're like, I'm sorry what but then you taste it and you're like, yeah, okay, okay Fine. So yeah, that's me. And like I said, Dave, you and I have had these guys once before and it was damn fine. yeah, cool. What about you? What are you thinking? Yeah, and just so everyone knows, you Dallas mentioned about the maceration on the skins. And for those of you who don't know about orange wine, it is skin maceration on white grape skins like a Chardonnay grape. So just like a red wine is maceration on a red grape skin. So that's what makes an orange wine is making a white wine like a red wine with that skin contact. So that's why that's why that and I won't have to say that again, because I also did an orange wine. for mine. Not the first one, but the second one, but first the Perfect Neighbor. Let's start there. Excited two different wines for these. So back to the Perfect Neighbor. As mentioned before, I really wanted that parent relationship to lead the way on this one. So I chose a wine that was all about a father-daughter slash parent-child relationship. The bottle here is... This is La Bascule Babushka. Rose of Sarah. And this labasque or babushka. um This is a natural wine project created by Fifi, a renowned New York City natural wine importer in collaboration with Stefan and Caroline Morin of Domaine Lyon in Roussillon, France. So Fifi the dad He always wanted to make his own wine, but he knew he was never going to be able to own his own vineyard. So he was able to team with the French domain and created La Bascule Babushka, is Fifi's pet name for his daughter, who, Maya, who also designed the label on this as well. So, and she's still kind of, she's not like a grown adult woman yet. Like she is still a child, but she still, she made that label. And that is a very cool label. yeah, Babushka is a pet name for her. And even better, this is kind of a darker rosé. So it's kind of a halfway point between a red wine and a white wine, a blanc de noir, as they would call a white wine made with a red skinned grape. So it's a halfway point between a white and a black wine, a black grape and a white grape. So that's to celebrate the mixed race neighborhood that came together to make justice happen in the wake of perfect neighbors tragedy. The wine is chillable. with some wonderful dark red fruitiness, blueberry hibiscus with a touch of spice and earth white pepper, that type of thing. It's a Vin du France, Vin du France, ah because it breaks certain rules of the Roussillon area, but it is still all grapes from the Roussillon area. And it is fantastic. I mean, it's it's delicious. It's easy. That's what I wanted to go with this movie to kind of lighten the load a little bit. And then thematically, it's just all on point for me. So that's my pairing for the perfect neighbor, Babushka from La Bascule. And then as we get to the Alabama solution, so before I get to my specific wine pairing, I do need to shout out the truest best pairing, but it's one that won't be possible for most people. And that's what our Wine Trivia Question of the Week was all about. Prison wine. Right. So there is actually and I don't mean make your own prison line at home, please don't. But there is no do winery. Absolutely. Yes. Experiment. Make your own prison wines, people. Except prison wine often leads to botulism. Yes, that too. Don't do that part. Yeah. Right, right, right. So don't make authentic prison wine the way they make it in prison because there it leads to outbreaks of botulism. It's very dangerous. So that's why I say do not do it. But there is a winery in South Carolina, Elwood Prison Wine. Their mission is to raise awareness about the injustice of the judicial system and to support programs that help children of incarcerated parents. They believe that every glass of wine can make a difference. Their wines are carefully handcrafted in South Carolina and their fruit is locally sourced from select farms within the state to ensure a consistent taste and high quality. Their origin story is pretty unique. After Justin Fox learned that his incarcerated father was making wine in prison, he thought he'd give it a try at home. There you go, right? And what began as a curiosity has now turned into a fully realized business with one fantastic ethical Elwood Prison Wine. The label does in fact feature his father's prison ID number. And you can find that at elwoodprisonwine.com. Let's do they make a full range by the way guys. oh Sorry. Yes, they do. When I when we came across these guys, what was fascinating about them is that they started, of course, with the muscadine, which is a sort of indigenous indigenous uh grape. And they've moved on to a couple of other blends. And I think they even have a have a cab saw of I think they have a cab saw. in their collection now. So go check those guys out. It's a husband and wife team. They are doing great things. So please support them. Sorry, Dave, pick back up. No, all good. All good. Yes. And Elwood prison line dot com. It's South Carolina. They can't ship to every state. But if you're nearby and of course, it's going to be expensive, you might not be able to afford like buying a whole box of wine and having a ship to you. But if it's easy to get that for you, wherever you may be, definitely do that. Now, for me personally, because I could not get my hands on Elwood prison line, but uh my choice from the Rhone Valley. is a group called Les Vignerons d'Estes-Argues, which is a co-op cellar in the small town of Estes-Argues, very close to Avignon and the Pont de Garde in the Southern Rhone Valley. Now, I chose a co-op because, of course, this is all about collective action in the prison and trying to get shit done in that way. So a co-op wine was perfect for that reason. Now, co-ops typically receive grapes from their members and then make wines from them in large batches. They don't mention vineyards or winemakers. Their wines are sourced from many different vineyards from all over the region. And typically, the focus is on quantity, not quality. These are commonly some of the most technologically and chemically produced wines in Europe. So not great. Normally, co-ops are not thought of in high regard in Europe that often. But Estes-Argues was established in 1965 and as early as the 1980s shifted towards natural winemaking thanks to the arrival of one Jean-Francois Nique, a talented winemaker influenced by the ideas of natural wine legends. um He put the co-op firmly on the track towards respectful farming, practically no additives in the cellar, no commercial yeast, no enzymes, no gum arabic, no acidifiers, and almost no sulfur. Quote, we use a minimal amount of SO2 at bottling if needed to make sure the wines are safe even when exported overseas. But that's it says Armelle Rosal, current winemaker of Estesarg. I'm probably mispronouncing his name. Yes, for sure. I'm sure we are. We are. But another feature, rather untypical of a co-op, and Nesta Zarg's focus on vinifying many of their terroirs separately, a practice promoted once again by the Nieck successor. Oh, actually, once again, it's Nieck's successor, not Nieck himself. Denis Deschamps. Deschamps even had the couvery, which is where all the barrels and the tanks and whatnot are located. He had it doubled in 2018, thus making it possible to showcase the unique personalities of the growers, best plots, even more. These wines proudly bear the name of their particular domain on their labels and represent a great way, quote, a great way to valorize the work of each grower. We vinify the wines in almost the same way. So it's really up to the grapes to show what's in them, unquote. So I really like this because, again, just like this movie, it is collective action, but there are certain people. And it really spotlights their efforts and how they all work together in certain ways in the strengths. of certain people, that when they were removed, like if they got put into solitary, things fell apart because no one else could replace what they were doing and what they brought to the table. um So what I did, I mentioned earlier, I wanted to wine with a little friction, a little bit of texture and whatnot, nothing too heavy, nothing too crazy, but with some friction. So my orange wine. So this is the Alma Viva. This is one of the latest wines that they've produced. This is a Pet Nat. orange wine so lightly fizzy. And then orange has got the skin maceration the skin contact which gives it that little bit of a grit on the mouth feel. This is 28 % Grenache Blanc 22 % Claret 22 % A Borbalanc and 22 % Rusin and 6 % Vionier so a nice little medley there partial skin contact during fermentation. It's delicately textured some friction light fizziness Skin contact lends a little bit of bitterness as well, which I think goes really well with this movie. need some bitterness to go with this story, especially how it ends. And but the wine remains elegant. uh Notes of apricot, mandarin orange type thing, yellow florals on the nose, beautifully minerally, very mineral driven. both matches the content of the dock while also contrasting the heaviness of the material. So gives you, you know, especially the weight that you're left with. at the very end. And note, it's a heavy ending, folks. So I needed to wind to counter that and not weigh me down additionally to what the movie was doing. And that allowed so I went with this light fizzy, but a little bit of bitterness, a little bit of skin contact. um And once again, this is the Alma Viva from the Le Vigneron d'Estaing. I'll have a link down below because I Cool All right. So that ends our double bill feature of Academy nominated documentaries before the Academy Awards hit next week. Folks, go check these two docs out. Perfect Neighbor is on Netflix, I believe in the States anyway, and Alabama Solution is on HBO Max here in the States. And both are well worth seeing. For sure. Any final thoughts, Dallas? yes, lots, but none that are probably going to make this fucking We got to wrap this up, right? Okay. will be back in one week with another one in entertainment pairing for your entertainment, everybody. But until then watch some great documentaries, try not to get too sad about them because there's so many sad things happening in the world right now. And, know, take care of yourselves, but enjoy the Academy Awards, watch some great movies, drink some great wine and we will check in next week. Ciao for now. now for our wine trivia question of the week. Dallas. oh All All right. Here's your wine trivia question of the week, people. One of these weeks you actually got to give one to me. I've. For you, buddy, I wrote it. you know, that's so funny. name's at the beginning of it. So. I but my I thought that But that's why I put the mister in front of it so you wouldn't think okay. for it. go for it. All That's right. We gotta go back to the end now for our wine trivia question of the week.