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Features: DVD
In 1995, Director Steve James returned to rural Southern Illinois to reconnect with Stevie Fielding, a troubled young boy he had been an 'Advocate Big Brother' to ten years earlier. He began a film to discover the forces that had shaped Stevie's entire life. Part way through the filming, Stevie is arrested and charged with a serious crime that tears his family apart. What was to be a modest profile turns into an intimate four and half year chronicle of Stevie, his broken family, the criminal justice system and the filmmaker himself, as they all struggle with what Stevie has done and who he has become.
"Influential, inspiring and ultimately enriching..." Clint Morris, Moviehole
"A powerful chronicle of a human life." Desson Howe, Washington Post
Editor's Note
STEVIE is non-fiction filmmaking at its bravest and most merciless. In its excruciating authenticity, STEVIE provides insight into the complexities of the human condition, and raises the question of personal responsibility to an almost unbearable degree. After directing a series of fictional films based on real events, filmmaker Steve James (HOOP DREAMS) decided to return to his documentary roots and shoot a short film portrait of a figure from his past. While in college, James volunteered for a short period as a Big Brother to little Stevie Fielding. Wondering what became of Stevie, James returns to Pomona, Illinois, ten years later, to reconnect with his little brother. What he meets is a deeply troubled man in his mid-twenties, whose horrendous upbringing and reckless behavior have him on a collision course for tragedy. Two years later, Stevie is arrested for child molestation, making James feel even more guilty for having abandoned Stevie so many years ago. James obviously had no idea what he was in for when he embarked on this seemingly innocent project, which grew from an innocent snapshot into a deeply profound photo album. Life is harsh, and brutal, and unfair for many people. STEVIE doesn't provide any answers, but its mere existence is enough to provide a glimmer of hope.
| Features | Audio: English Dolby Stereo | | Subtitles: English, Spanish | | Production Commentary | | Unused Footage | | Trailer | | Widescreen Version | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Lions Gate |
| Release Date: 5/22/2007 |
| Running Time: 145 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2003 | | Catalog ID: 8168 | | UPC: 00658149816824 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English [CC], English | | Available Subtitles: Spanish | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | 1.78:1 |
| Cast & Crew
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| | Professional Reviews | New York Times
"...A harrowing documentary portrait..." 03/28/2003 p.E28USA Today
"Filmmaker Steve James brings the same access, passion and skill to STEVIE that he brought to 1994's HOOP DREAMS....Exemplary..." 03/28/2003 p.3E Entertainment Weekly
"...A fluid and deeply troubling documentary....STEVIE is gripping in its intimacy..." 04/04/2003 p.78 Chicago Sun-Times
"...STEVIE is a brave and painful film....To watch STEVIE is to wonder if anything could have been done to change the course of this history..." 03/28/2003 p.30 Los Angeles Times
"...[A] ceaselessly provocative film..." 04/04/2003 p.C16 San Francisco Examiner 9 of 10
Could Steve James have possibly made another documentary as good as Hoop Dreams? The answer is yes, and he did it by turning inward, to tell a painful story about his own life. And just minutes after the film starts, that story comes to life on its own. - Jeffrey M. Anderson
Chicago Sun-Times 9 of 10
...To watch Stevie is to wonder if anything could have been done to change the course of this history. James' big-brothering was well-intentioned, and his wife, a social worker, believes in help from outside. But this extended family seems to form a matrix of pain and abuse that goes around and around in each generation, and mercilessly down through time to the next. To be born into the family is to have a good chance of being doomed, and Brenda's survival is partly because she got out fast, married young and kept her distance. - Roger Ebert
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