The Work (2017) on Netflix
NR20171h 30mDocumentary
For four days, three civilians join a therapy retreat at Folsom State Prison in California, sitting with men who are incarcerated there. The Inside Circle Foundation runs the program.
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- Netflix4.5/5
- IMDb7.8/102,588 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Trailer
Plot summary
Three civilians agree to take part in a four-day therapy retreat held inside Folsom State Prison in Folsom, California. They sit with men who are incarcerated there in sessions led by the Inside Circle Foundation, the nonprofit that runs the program, whose chief executive is a psychologist. The camera stays inside the prison, following the participants through the sessions. Volunteers had worked in the program for more than seven years, starting in 2001, before the inmates allowed the sessions to be recorded. Shooting took place in 2009 and 2010, and more than 300 hours of footage had been gathered by the time editing began.
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Work (2017)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Jairus, Eon and Miles McLeary volunteered for over seven years in the Folsom State Prison group therapy program, starting in 2001, before the prison's inmates granted them permission to film their documentary there.
- Gethin Aldous, a "friend of a friend of a friend" of the McLearys, was brought in as co-director in 2014 or 2015, but only after the McLearys insisted he take part in the prison program first.
- The retreat shown in the film is a real program run by the Inside Circle Foundation; James McLeary, the McLeary brothers' father and a psychologist, is the foundation's chief executive officer and the retreat's organizer.
