Premiere Date: September 13, 2005
Synopsis
Omar and Pete are determined to change their lives. Both have been in and out of prison for more than 30 years — never out longer than six months. This intimate and penetrating film follows these two longtime African-American friends after what they hope will be their final release. Their lives take divergent paths in their native Baltimore as one wrestles with addiction and fear while the other finds success and freedom through helping others. With extraordinary cooperation from Maryland's innovative reentry programs — many run by former drug addicts and convicts themselves — Omar & Pete also provides a rare glimpse into an intense and very personal web of support.
Are you aware of our Comment Policy?
* Your email address is for verification purposes only and will not be published, shared, or sold to other entities.
Filmmaker
View the Film
Film Update
June 10, 2005
Critical Acclaim
— Jimmie Briggs
New York Amsterdam News
Upcoming Films
Patti Smith: Dream of Life
Wednesday, December 30
Reviews & Reactions
Average Review
| based on 1 review
Omar & Pete
OMAR & PETE examines how America's penal system treats the problem of Addiction. If substance abuse is a disease, let's treat ALL diseases the same way that we do with drug and alcohol dependency. If you are diabetic, and you sneak an ill advised piece of candy...JAIL TIME. If you suffer from emphysema, and you take a puff from a cigarette...JAIL TIME, and on down the line. In this way, we can consistently become the dumbest society on the face of the earth. Why is it that we continue to view people who turn to alcohol and drugs as somehow 'sinful'. If anything, they are only guilty of making ill-advised and ineffective Life Choices. They are looking for ways to make themselves feel better, and this seems to be their only 'sin'. To lock them up does nothing to benefit them, or society at large. When Omar's probation officer tells him that he is a danger to himself because of his third relapse, isn't this the same as telling an overweight person that he is a danger to himself if he continues to over-eat. Should the over-weight person be sentenced to prison as well? OMAR & PETE was a great documentary which casts a critical gaze on a prison system which is primarily concerned with Punishment, and nothing else.
by Ken Worden
July 1, 2009, 11:21 AM