For Colman Domingo, 'Sing Sing' is 'a gift of radical love'

“We need to see more images of tenderness between men,” Colman Domingo, who plays John “Divine G” Whitfield in “Sing Sing,” said.

Colman Domingo and Clarence Maclin in “Sing Sing.” Credit: A24.

The new film “Sing Sing” is much more than your average prison film. Colman Domingo instead prefers to think of it as a gift. 

“I think that this film is a gift of radical love in so many forms, especially deconstructing male relationships as well,” Domingo told an audience during an advance screening at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Domingo plays John “Divine G” Whitfield, an incarcerated man convicted of a crime he said he didn’t commit, in the A24 drama centered around the real-life Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) program at New York's infamous Sing Sing Correctional Facility. From the beginning, viewers can see that Divine G is treated with high regard among the population — he’s a playwright and performer who cofounded the rehabilitative theater program.

Domingo delivers a brilliant performance that will likely earn him an Oscar nomination, but it’s through his character that we are introduced to another actor that viewers are sure to remember — Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin as himself. 

“Brotherhood plays an essential role in RTA because this program was born in a place that is very predatory,” said Maclin, who had served over 15 years in the real Sing Sing. “These bonds were built because they were necessary. We had to have a brotherhood, a bond, something strong in order to hold us, in order to keep our own sanity, in order to rely on one another.”

Without giving away the film, Divine G spots Divine Eye, a hard-nosed hustler with an appreciation for Shakespeare, and tries to recruit him for the RTA program. Their relationship, as well as the bonds shared by the theater group, is what makes the film special. 

During the screening, tears were shed and sniffles were heard at the cast’s naked emotion and vulnerability — from Black and brown men, a population that society tends to dehumanize. Incarcerated men are seen hugging each other, dancing, acting out fantasies, and crying together; something Domingo believes there should be more of on the big screen.

“We need to see more images of tenderness between men. I got to know these brothers; I saw the way they would create space for each other to feel,” Domingo said. “The thing is, for Black and brown men in this world, most say we shouldn't feel, to turn us into monsters in some way. But it's radical that we're doing the opposite.” 

The film’s purpose is not solely to entertain, but to convey that Black and brown men on the inside should be seen as full human beings with hopes, dreams, and fears — and it succeeds. During one particularly moving scene, formerly incarcerated actor Sean “Dino” Johnson states that they come to the RTA sessions “to become human again!”

Credit: A24.

That respect wasn’t just shown in the film. Director Greg Kwedar and screenwriter Clint Bentley implemented a community-based pay structure in which the entire cast and crew were paid the exact same pay rate, including Domingo, and everyone participates in the profit.

“We felt that was the best way to tell this story because so many people are bringing their lived experience to the screen, and so everyone becomes a stakeholder,” producer Monique Walton said of the equitable profit-sharing system. “We really felt that it set a tone, it set a culture, and it empowered people because everyone felt ownership.”

The majority of the “Sing Sing” cast was made up of formerly incarcerated Black and brown men who had once participated in the real theater program, which sees less than 3 percent of its alumni return to prison. Maclin, who was asked to participate in RTA during his sixth year of incarceration at Sing Sing, believes embracing our emotions, rather than suppressing them, can bring us together. 

“In so much of this country's history, we are denied the fact that we do need to be intimate with one another. We need to talk to one another. We need to show each other that we care about each other,” Maclin, whose performance in “Sing Sing” is the first of his film career, told What I’m Reading. “For Black and brown men especially, we are taught not to feel and not to show emotions. That's looked at as weakness. But in actuality, that's strength.”

“Sing Sing” will release nationwide on August 2.

Related: Read my colleague Taryn Finley’s review of “Sing Sing” in HuffPost!