For all the hoopla and hype surrounding VR and 360 video over the past few years, I’ve been largely unimpressed with the short film offerings utilizing the technology. The majority of them amount to nothing more than gimmicks: a novelty element designed to give my fidgety hands something to do instead of just passively watching video like the old days. Nobody just watches movies anymore, Grandpa...geesh...

Send Me Home is an undeniably simple use of the monoscopic technology. Using a basic GoPro 360 camera rig, we listen to a frank and personal interview from Rickey Jackson, a wrongfully imprisoned man who was exonerated after spending almost four decades locked away. But, it’s the simplicity that makes the film work. Filmmaker Cassandra Evanisko and the team at Lonelyleap, the production company behind the film, realize that their subject is so powerful that just the experience of being in the same space as Rickey is impact enough. The 360 becomes an immersive tool to get into his head space, to see life both then— confined cinder block walls—and now—an average suburban routine. The juxtaposition is heartbreaking and surreal. After all, imagine essentially skipping over the best years of your life...of attempting to experience all that you missed in a condensed time span. The film is both a condemnation of the American prison industrial complex and a celebration of the simple joys of Americana.

Rickey becomes the ideal narrative guide—his voice is distinct: gravely and stoic. As he calmly discusses what seems unimaginable, we are transported to the places that have had a profound impact on his life, from a cell similar to that which he spent so much of his time to the Cleveland Museum of Art, which is a private, reflective space for him. The film never gets into the details of his case...it’s not interested in portraying the Serial-esque/true crime take on this story (the podcast, coincidentally, is covering the law enforcement and justice system in Cleveland this season). And, that’s for the better. It’s enough to just hang with Rickey...to spend time with him. After all, he knows that he’s missed so much being locked away.

As Evanisko relates to Short of the Week:

“We wanted Send Me Home to urge participants to reflect on the expanse of their own lives in relation to the time Rickey lost—which we achieved by shifting the participant’s role between being a guest in Rickey’s home to being a guest in his mind. Our hope was that this one story of injustice, of time and opportunity lost, would shine a light on the larger systemic issues within our criminal justice system—a flawed system that does not always protect innocent people.”

That message comes through without ever being heavy handed or on-the-nose. It’s a film with a clear take on criminal justice reform, but one that is never forced on the viewer. After all, you don’t start a conversation by screaming. Rather, empathy and compassion are the path forward.

Lonelyleap has a slew of other projects in the works. Two documentaries make their festival premiere soon, King of Night and the Vimeo Staff Picked, Maxxx. Outside of Lonelyleap, Evanisko is developing a short experimental film about communicating through prison walls. Additionally, she is set to premiere her short film, Two Over Years online later this year.