Nancy L Draper

4/10

This could be be more accurately called THIS IS JUST CHASE. It is definitely not a balanced portrayal of the community of North Preston as the title implies. It is more a promotion piece for a musician, Justin "Just Chase" Smith, who is represented as a rising star in his industry who barely escaped a certain life of crime, imprisonment or death. It misdirects (or maybe confuses) the audience. It minimizes the community's history with a romantic (and inaccurate) notion that North Preston was solely settled by run-away slaves at the end of Harriet Tubman's Underground Railroad). It minimizes the other reality of the community - that there are hard working, family and church centric people who did not chose crime as their "lifestyle". And, it has aroused a backlash from the community. Archy Beals, who was born and raised in North Preston is quoted as saying, "It's not North Preston. It's a documentary on the life of Justin Smith, who had gone through some adversities in his life, but it's only one aspect of the community... the film should have included "doctors, and lawyers and social workers, teachers, many people in the community who have done some great things in life. All we see in that documentary is the negative aspects of the community." (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/this-is-north-preston-documentary-archy-beals-1.5143021). As one person (featured in the film) commenting on the finished film, wrote "This Is North Preston" does more harm for this little community than good. It feeds all the black stereotypes, and doesn’t even really reflect on the history, or the positive attributes". (Comment following podcast at https://framelineshowto.com/2019/03/18/canadian-film-fest-2019/). This is a poorly executed documentary. Jaren Hayman has gathered interviews with no coherent organization or objective voice. The material presented has no clarifying viewpoint and falls short of being a thoroughly researched subject. I give this film a 4 (poor) out of 10. [Documentary]