Pick of the Week: Louder than a Bomb

By Horacio Garcia

For the last ten years, every year, 60 of Chicago’s High Schools meet in what has become the biggest contest of slam poetry in the world. The contest is called Louder than a Bomb and is the only way besides sports competitions in which the teenagers of America’s third largest city interact with other kids from different parts of one of the most segregated towns in the country.

The storyline of the documentary Louder than a Bomb, now in theaters, follows three individual contestants. Nate Marshal is a nerdy kid who had to learn how to use words to defend himself from harassment; Nova, a brilliant girl who takes care of her brother after been abandoned by their father, and Adam Gottlieb, a rich kid with a no nonsense manner and great verbal skills. The three of them enter the contest in the hopes of defeating the undisputed reining champs: Lamar Jordan and the slammers from Steinmetz High.

Slam poetry is a form of poetic contest as no other in the world. It was invented in the 80's, as a way to motivate ordinary people to listen to poetry (it's said that Mark Smith, the creator of the contest, was trying to make his construction working friends hear his poems…) and consists in awarding points to the contestants for the quality of the compositions.

The process is chaotic, exhilarating and a very, very loud: several dozen teenagers shout out their verses to an audience of hundreds that answers with equal glee in what sometimes looks like complete pandemonium. But the onlooker can notice that the chaos is part of a paced rhythm that is fundamental to poetry.

A large part of the story directed by Greg Jacobs and Jon Sistel concentrates in the kids from Steinmetz High; they are the poorest of the bunch and the most typically adolescents. They fight, have writer’s blocks and compose the most socially committed poetry, a poetry that can be at times ferocious and then heartbreaking.

The three individual poets, Nate, Nova and Adam are mighty characters of their own. Nate comes from the deepest South Chicago area, a neighborhood where been jumped is the most common occurrence in the world. Nate is what we usually call "a talent"; a brilliant kid from the bad part of the city who’s been attending magnet schools all his life. Nova cares for her autistic brother and in her poetry she scorches her drunkard of a father. Adam is just smart. He's just one of those guys with a different perspective of life. The verses of all three are very powerful.

The movie is touching and intelligent and shows no prejudices when looking at these young poets from very different backgrounds but I think its best achievement is been able to avoid concentrating too much in the competition and digging more in the lives of this young men and women and how Louder than a Bomb helps them to carry the burdens of life. A remarkable documentary in every respect.

Tags documentary, louder than a bomb, slam poetry