Don't be put off by Netflix's rating, 'mature', sometimes code for 'immature'. It doesn't feature fornication or the F-word, but does cover good maturation and maturity in a doped & despotic world. In short a Puerto Rican family (Torres) relocated to Brooklyn in 1962, hoping to find a better life, but struggle to make ends meet. The older son, Victor, soon joins a gang (Roman Lords) at a time when illicit drugs were beginning to weaken gang culture. Soon he is hooked and dealing H, his parents fearing the worst but unwilling to face the facts. Sherry is a girlfriend of Danny, leader of a rival gang (Liberty Boys), and getting friendly with her puts Victor's life on the line: a mate takes his bullet.
A new guy has come to town, Jimmy, an evangelical pastor with a past, who befriends the family and opens a street church. Gradually Victor's family team up with Jimmy to save Vic from drugs, though it seems that'll only be possible through saving him into Christian life, a trip he's reluctant to take. At the rehab Jimmy even saddles him with Danny-the rival who killed his mate-as a roommate. Based on a true life story it is well acted, taking viewers into a grisly life of slavery but opening up emancipation, true power, a film or warmth and varying emotions. One line-"Ask {God} to make Victor the man he was meant to be" (40:48)-is problematic, unless you buy into the philosophy of determinism.
A new guy has come to town, Jimmy, an evangelical pastor with a past, who befriends the family and opens a street church. Gradually Victor's family team up with Jimmy to save Vic from drugs, though it seems that'll only be possible through saving him into Christian life, a trip he's reluctant to take. At the rehab Jimmy even saddles him with Danny-the rival who killed his mate-as a roommate. Based on a true life story it is well acted, taking viewers into a grisly life of slavery but opening up emancipation, true power, a film or warmth and varying emotions. One line-"Ask {God} to make Victor the man he was meant to be" (40:48)-is problematic, unless you buy into the philosophy of determinism.