12 O’Clock Boys is now playing in select US theaters from Oscilloscope Laboratories.
From the vantage point of my cushioned seat at the cinema, the 12 O’Clock Boys are the good guys.
As our enthusiastic young subject Pug (whom the film follows for three years as he attempts to join the crew) explains to us, the 12 O’Clock Boys are a Baltimore dirt bike crew who ride in packs in the seemingly constant state of a “wheelie.” If you hit 12 O’Clock (front wheel high in the air), well, then “you da shit.”
12 O’Clock Boys was a magical documentary experience for me, although the film isn’t flawless. Writer/director/producer/cinematographer Lotfy Nathan manages to grant the viewer in depth access to a fascinating and largely unknown subculture. Baltimore dirt bike crews are something I never knew existed at all, and may very well be a subculture perfectly suited to be born amidst the YouTube generation.
By revealing the crews to us through the eyes of young Pug (I believe 10 years old when we first meet him, and 13 when the end credits smash us back to our realities), we see them idealistically. The coolest dudes in Baltimore are, clearly, the 12 O’Clock Boys. And you know what? I’m inclined to agree with Pug.
Through stunning photography and a beautiful score from Joe Williams, we don’t just watch as swarms of dirt bikers menace the streets and taunt the police; we get inside their minds and get exposed to the community that birthed them. Pug and some of the elder statesmen of the crews explain to us that riding makes the Boys feel free, in control. It gives them a tool for self-expression and civil disobedience at the same time.
Look, if I lived in the Baltimore neighborhoods where these guys were riding, I might have a more nuanced view of things. The film highlights a specific incident or two which points out the perils of this subculture. One young boy was hit by a bike and lost many of his teeth, but the rider drove off. Another story is recounted of a rider who got involved in an altercation with a police officer and ended up dead in a violent and frightening crash.
But all civil disobedience is complicated and grey. Baltimore dirt bike crews are no exception. Why do I sit back and suggest they are the good guys? Let me explain.
The police are not allowed to chase or pursue the crews when they ride. High speed chases are simply too dangerous for the parties involved and for bystanders. And it is in this fact that the crews become a powerful tool for defiance in an urban environment that offers virtually no other escape for its citizens. These guys aren’t gang banging. They aren’t slinging drugs. They aren’t shooting and killing each other. They are riding. Feeling the wind in their hair. Impressing girls, getting respect, and posting their stunts on YouTube. They are taking an identity for themselves and using it for something that, at the very least, is more positive than many of the other options the streets provide them.
As I watch Pug flounder in school, live a fairly typical street life under the roof of his wild mother CoCo, and dream about riding… a big part of me hopes he’ll be a 12 O’Clock Boy. While he loves animals and also dreams of being a veterinarian, he sure does love dirt bikes a lot. And the older men who are encouraging and training him don’t seem to have any ulterior motives for the little dude other than to help him ride hard. But then again… it doesn’t seem that anything about the 12 O’Clock Boys’ culture is transformative. If Pug gets to ride with them, will that come at the expense of his dreams to be a vet? Probably. But the sad part is… Pug lives inside of a virtually inescapable system that works against his dreams of being a veterinarian at every turn. The 12 O’Clock Boys are a palpable and attainable dream for Pug, a chance for him to experience some genuine freedom in a world where no other opportunities are afforded him.
Don’t get me wrong, I get why the authorities have issues. The stunt riding these guys pulls looks eight different kinds of dangerous. And I can imagine it’d be scary if you were driving down a Baltimore street in your car and all of the sudden 145 dirt bikes come swarming around you. It’d be frightening and unsafe. What I’m arguing, though, is that the pure sense of freedom and identity and solidarity that the 12 O’Clock Boys gain from their rides outweighs the civil infractions of it all.
I don’t know what to suggest the police should do. The film goes into details about how the police monitor the gangs activities with helicopters and high tech tracking equipment. The latest strategy, it seems, is that the police can follow the men to their homes with sophisticated air cameras and then come and confiscate the bikes after their rides are through. While this seems like a safe enough proposition, avoiding high speed encounters and still enforcing some type of law and order… it also feels a little bit like The Man swooping in and stealing a kid’s bike. It also sounds like an enormous use of taxpayer resources, and I’m not sure I would want law enforcement prioritizing this kind of bust over, say, ALL violent crimes of any kind.
Lotfy Nathan’s films does a wonderful job of presenting this complex culture to us through his incredible subject Pug. This kid is a star. Although one gets the sense that the obstacles facing him are overwhelming, so the film has a sad tinge to it all, you still get to see a street smart and fearless young man work towards obtaining his humble dreams to ride. That simple movie-going pleasure is a strong one.
But while I did feel like I got a good peek into a complex sub-culture, I didn’t feel like the film offered the strongest narrative thread. We follow Pug over roughly three years of his life, but I don’t think Nathan was able to find a definitive story arc in his footage. For instance… Pug is trying to join the 12 O’Clock Boys. Is he successful? Will he hit 12 O’Clock and “be da shit?” This film won’t exactly show you that. I’d have loved to have seen Nathan follow Pug until one outcome was clear for him. But at some point a documentarian has to put their cameras down and say they’ve got a movie… and Nathan has a pretty great one. I just would’ve loved to see a more focused thread of a narrative to latch onto.
Regardless of my minor gripes, I was transported into a real and raw inner city Baltimore through Nathan’s film. A place where upward mobility is so challenging that one of the only ways young men see to take a little power back for themselves is to jump on the back a dirtbike, gather by the hundreds, and drive their pack past a police station, waving middle fingers all the while. And as long as they aren’t hooking young kids on drugs or shooting and killing each other to gain this modicum of power and dignity, I say ride on. But see if you can’t convince Pug to study a little harder and pursue that veterinary dream of his, too.
I was able to see the film here in Austin through the Austin Film Society (an organization I interned for several years back, by way of full disclosure). In the years since my internship the film society has grown and expanded and now screens films at an impressive venue here in Austin called The Marchesa. Sadly I hadn’t been out to The Marchesa to see what AFS had wrought until this screening, and I’m impressed. The Marchesa is now kitted out with full digital/DCP projection capabilities, as well as a 35mm projector. The theater is legit, the lobby is primed for discussion, and the bar is open. I highly recommend checking out some programming there; I know I plan to step up my game and get out there more often as well.
And I’m Out.
The below trailer is possibly the most hypnotic and goosebump-inducing trailer of the past year. I’ve watched it countless times and I recommend you do the same.
Originally published at old.cinapse.co on February 5, 2014.
