Sometimes there are documentaries that come along that show the best and worst in human nature. Films that will touch your heart and then rip it out a moment later. If you want to watch a documentary that will show you beautiful highs and devastating emotional lows, you can’t go wrong with Hulu’s “Jacinta.”
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As seen in the trailer for “Jacinta,” the festival standout from 2020 tells the story of a young mother named Jacinta. She’s the product of a childhood dominated by a drug-addicted mother, who was constantly in and out of prison. So, as Jacinta got older, she too got addicted to drugs and found herself in and out of prison, often sharing stints behind bars with her mom. The film showcases Jacinta’s struggles with trying to lead a healthy life away from drugs and prison so that she can raise her own young daughter in the hopes she will break the cycle.
The doc was filmed over a three-year time period by director Jessica Earnshaw. The filmmaker captures every bit of the highs and lows of that time, as audiences act as a fly on the wall during Jacinta’s journey.
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“Jacinta” is set to debut on Hulu on October 8. You can watch the trailer below.
Here’s the synopsis:
Filmed for over three years, “Jacinta” begins at the Maine Correctional Center where Jacinta, 26, and her mother Rosemary, 46, are incarcerated together, both recovering from drug addiction. As a child, Jacinta became entangled in her mother’s world of drugs and crime and has followed her in and out of the system since she was a teenager. This time, as Jacinta is released from prison, she hopes to maintain her sobriety and reconnect with her own daughter, Caylynn, 10, who lives with her paternal grandparents. Despite her desire to rebuild her life for her daughter, Jacinta continually struggles against the forces that first led to her addiction. With unparalleled access and a gripping vérité approach, director Jessica Earnshaw paints a deeply intimate portrait of mothers and daughters and the effects of trauma over generations.
