Our review of Kim Kardashian West's prison reform documentary 'The Justice Project'
The star has undergone an extensive rebrand — announcing, in a Vogue cover story last year, that she was working towards becoming a lawyer, after successfully petitioning President Trump for clemency in the case of Alice Johnson, a nonviolent offender sentenced to life in prison. This coming into consciousness is not the subject of the feature-length documentary “Kim Kardashian West:,” on which the subject describes becoming aware of Johnson’s case.
She does indeed have a voice — one that tends less to cut through cultural noise than to create it. This documentary converts into unpleasant spectacle what was always implicit in the star’s legal project: That, for her, reform of a system that causes chaos in the lives of so many, particularly of black Americans, comes in the package of the beneficent gift of individual attention to telegenic and unthreatening cases, rather than… reform.
Inasmuch as there’s a structure here, it’s focused on Kardashian West’s continuing education, procured through the efforts of the incarcerated. Her path to her J.D. does not include law school — an unorthodox method that has the practical effect of making those for whom she advocates her teachers.
Kardashian West’s intentions may matter less than her results, which — in the life of Alice Johnson, at least — have been real. But there’s something garish and gross about a star personalizing an important cause by asking vulnerable people to open a vein on-camera and then never bothering to get back to the cause itself. The idea of decarceration, here, is an opportunity to listen, and to be shown listening.
Out of ideas and having used all the footage it had of Kardashian West meeting her public, the documentary ends with its subject — her, of course, not the cause — reading a dictionary definition of “justice.” One doesn’t sense she’s edged any closer to really getting it.Executive Producers: Kim Kardashian West, Gil Goldschein, Julie Pizzi, Farnaz Farjam, Vince DiPersio.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Kourtney Kardashian Defends Her Work Ethic, Says 'Raising Children Is a Job' After KUWTK FightKourtney Kardashian is speaking out after her sisters, Kim Kardashian West and Khloé Kardashian, accused her of not having a strong work ethic on a…
Read more »
The Aftermath of Kim & Kourtney Kardashian's Fight Is So DramaticThe Kardashian-Jenner sisters are in shock as they discuss Kourtney Kardashian & Kim Kardashian's fight on KUWTK
Read more »
Kim Kardashian, 'Friend' of Ivanka, Won't Be Endorsing a PresidentThings have changed for Kim Kardashian since she endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Read more »
Kourtney Kardashian breaks silence after Keeping up with the Kardashians exitKourtney Kardashian has announced she's quit her family's show Keeping Up with the Kardashians after an explosive fight with her sister Kim
Read more »
Kim Kardashian left with nasty cuts after Kourtney 'reached breaking point'Kim Kardashian was left nursing bloody wounds after being attacked by her elder sister in Keeping Up With The Kardashians who'd 'had enough'
Read more »