HBO's new documentary The Alabama Solution has entered the awards conversation with its staggering and intimate look at the crisis of mass incarceration.
The film exposes the brutal realities inside Alabama's state-run institutions through the eyes of the incarcerated men fighting for their humanity.
It's a gripping tale that will have you on the edge of your seat.
We spoke with Lead Editor and Co-Producer Page Marsella, the editor tasked with weaving hundreds of hours of footage into a cohesive and compelling narrative. She shared her insights on finding the film's thriller-like pacing, the decision to prioritize lived experience over expert commentary, and the emotional weight of documenting a humanitarian crisis happening in our own backyard.
Let's dive in.
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
NFS: Hi Page! Can you tell us how you first got involved with HBO's The Alabama Solution, as well as what drew you to the project?
Page Marsella: Hi! Thanks so much for the opportunity to speak about The Alabama Solution! In 2022, co-director Charlotte Kaufman reached out to me because she was working with Andrew Helms, an incredible producer that I had just finished working with on Stolen Youth as lead editor and co-producer. That project was a heavy subject matter of a different kind; survivors of years-long abuse at the hands of master manipulator Larry Ray, who set out to share their story for the first time. Charlotte and I spoke about the challenges of Stolen Youth, such as making sure we were always centering the survivors’ journey and healing. Often, a film about a cult is focused on the ‘leader,’ and in this case, that was not a perspective we were interested in telling.
For The Alabama Solution, Charlotte and Andrew Jarecki had been wrestling with the hundreds of hours of footage for a few years. Because the subject of mass incarceration is such a massive story to tell, they were looking for someone who could help hone the message while also staying out of the way of the voices and perspectives that have never before been seen in a film.
NFS: The film has been generating immense buzz as a potential Oscar contender. What does that kind of recognition mean to you?
PM: It’s an enormous honor for the entire team because the goal with this film (as with any documentary I work on or love to watch), is to see a world that many know nothing about. If you have never been incarcerated or know anyone who has been, there is very little info on what actually goes on inside the system. Our film shows that there is almost no access inside these state-run institutions and therefore the Department of Corrections in every state – not just Alabama – can craft their own narrative for the media. The more people who see the film and are able to do some real soul-searching on what punishment and forgiveness truly mean, the more we hope to cause a ripple of change in the system. There is also a tremendous grass-roots effort underway to ensure that the film is seen by impacted communities in Alabama and across the United States, as well as by key stakeholders such as judges, parole boards, and politicians. The hope is that the film can be a real source of change beyond airing on HBO.
'The Alabama Solution' Credit: HBO
NFS: How did the film evolve over the course of its multi-year production cycle?
PM: Andrew and Charlotte are incredible investigators and did their due diligence on a subject of this scope. We had hundreds of hours of interviews with activists, lawyers, politicians, victims' rights groups, and criminal justice thought-leaders. When I joined the project, one challenge was whether this should be episodic. There is SO much to the issue of mass incarceration, how do you succinctly tell a story that encapsulates the entire problem? After many edits and thoughtful team discussions, we felt that weaving the many issues into a single film, so they could be in conversation with each other, would be the most impactful for a viewer. With a subject as heavy as this, you only get one chance to capture an audience member, so we felt a feature film would be the best way to get as many people to watch as possible. Once we had decided on the format and I continued to sculpt the material, we came to realize that most of the sit-down interviews weren’t giving new insight into the issues. While every participant that was filmed was extremely thoughtful and well-meaning, we kept coming back to the interviews with the incarcerated men and the materials bravely recorded in the prison as the most eye-opening and informative. In any documentary, it’s the people who have lived experience who are the true experts. The best thing we can do is get out of their way.
When we finally narrowed down the focus, the trickiest part was finding the balance of the 3 storylines: Sandy Ray’s journey, the incarcerated men’s stories, and the DOJ/Alabama’s response. It was a delicate dance to find the proper place to leave one story and move to another while maintaining momentum.
NFS: How familiar were you with this issue of mass incarceration prior to working on the film, and how has it changed your perception of the topic?
PM: Growing up in New York City in the 80s and 90s, I knew the devastating story of the Central Park Five, and I knew kids who had been in and out of the system. In the 2000's I had heard about Kalief Browder’s horrific sentencing & subsequent treatment at Riker’s Island. However, I definitely was not aware of how deep the systemic issues are all over the country. As Melvin Ray states in the film, “How can a journalist go into a war zone but can’t go into a prison in the United States of America?” This is by design because the system is broken on so many levels; from sentencing, to lack of rehabilitation options, to officer brutality, to forced labor…the scope of the problem is enormous.
After working on this project for 2+ years, my perception has been completely blown wide open. In addition to learning the intricacies of the individual problems, I was continually struck by the hopeful moments in the footage… the moments where Robert Earl [‘Kinetik Justice’], Melvin Ray, and Raoul’s humanity became literal bright lights in the darkness. It was humbling how these men faced so much at the hands of the Department of Corrections, yet were consistent in their own pursuit of justice for every incarcerated person. How can we, in the free world, say that these men and women need to ‘face justice’, when we are spending our tax dollars to subject them to such cruelty daily? What does justice mean at this point? It’s hard to make sense of, and hopefully this film attempts to unravel some of the lies we are conditioned to believe about punishment, retribution, and forgiveness.
NFS: Your editing lends the film a gripping sense of escalation, making it almost feel like a thriller. How did you conceive of the pacing on the project? Did you take inspiration from any particular genres or films?
PM: Andrew Jarecki is a master of the thriller, and he always stressed how important it is to keep an audience captivated when you are diving into a heavy and heady subject. As an editor, my job is to make sure we honor the subjects’ voices while hopefully telling a captivating story. I remember early on we had discussed Barbara Kopple’s film Harlan County, USA as a perfect example of letting the coal miners (and their detractors) speak for themselves without any added commentary or filmmaker bias.
Obviously, when Andrew and Charlotte first started investigating in Alabama 6 years ago, they had no idea what was to come. The horrific death of Steven Davis and the tenacity of Sandy Ray as a mother seeking answers from the institution that was supposed to keep her son safe was a way for the incarcerated men to help us understand the broader issues at play, and the work they have been doing for decades to fight for better conditions.
We also purposely kept data and statistics to a minimum. I personally tune out when documentaries provide a lot of data and numbers because I will always connect more with a storyteller. So while there is an abundance of data that support the thesis of the film, we were very selective in the statistics that we included so that they could pack the most punch. Early on, Melvin said to Charlotte that incarcerated people are usually reduced to a statistic and rarely get to tell their perspective, which is something that really stuck with me.
NFS: Some of the footage in this documentary is uniquely upsetting. How do you maintain your own personal emotional state when sifting through such awful imagery?
PM: It was very hard for myself and the team to sift through this footage every single day, but I can’t stress enough that no matter how hard it was for us, this is a daily reality for incarcerated men and women. We were able to turn the computers off at night, and that is a luxury they do not have. Presenting the reality they are faced with clearly and honestly was a constant motivator.
Page Marsella Credit: Impact 24
NFS: How can audience members who felt affected or inspired by The Alabama Solution take action on this issue?
PM: The film's website is a valuable resource for those who want to get involved. Beyond the specific deaths covered in the film, the investigation tracked over 1,300 deaths that have occurred within Alabama’s system. The findings are compiled into one of the most comprehensive databases in the system. While the film centers on human stories, the website provides what Beth Shelburne, our co-producer and a brilliant journalist, calls ‘the receipts of the investigation.’
The goal is to offer a tool to inform policymakers, concerned citizens, and fellow journalists. You can also sign up to learn about an impact campaign being developed in Alabama and its action steps. The more people who watch the film, spread the message, and get involved, the better off all our communities will be. We often think of humanitarian crises as happening somewhere far away, when in reality, this is happening in every single state in the country.
NFS: Is there anything else you would like to share about your work as the editor on The Alabama Solution?
PM: I am honored to have worked on this project and honored that the incarcerated men, women, and activists who have been doing the work for decades have responded so positively to it. We strived every day to do right by them.
