Herman’s House DVD Review

Herman’s House is a documentary about the relationship between an artist and a man who’s been in solitary confinement for forty years, and the project they embark on together. The film introduces us to Herman Wallace with a dark screen, his voice saying, “I can only take about four steps forward before I touch the door.” He tells us he’s in his cell twenty-three hours a day, and he’s used to it. Throughout the film, Herman will remain a voice. We never actually see him.

Jackie Sumell is an artist in New York City who learned about Herman during a lecture on solitary confinement. Outraged, she wrote a letter to him, and included photographs of normal items that she sees throughout her day.  He thought it was crazy, but “it was special because it was crazily done for me.” So he responded.

She began to visit him, and one day asked him what kind of house he dreams about. In voice over, Herman tells us, “I don’t dream about no house.” But he played the game, describing his dream house. And she began creating a model of the house he described. He first describes the gardens (as he describes it, we see a computer creation of the house). Interestingly, in the master bathroom he wants a six foot by nine foot hot tub (basically the dimensions of his cell).

In 1967, Herman Wallace was convicted of bank robbery, and sent to Angola prison in Louisiana. Then in 1972 he and another inmate were charged with the murder of a corrections officer, and immediately put in solitary confinement. The guard’s widow, who was only seventeen at the time and a newlywed, is now not sure if the two inmates convicted of the crime actually did it. The murder weapon was never tied to either of them. Oddly, we’re given this information, but then the documentary never returns to this subject.

Jackie’s art project, “The House That Herman Built,” opened in New York in October of 2007, and we see footage of Jackie and Herman’s sister, Vickie, at the gallery opening. But we don’t see much else of it, focusing mostly on Vickie’s emotional response to the wooden replica of his cell, which is part of the exhibit. We get no gallery patrons’ reactions or anything. Herman says, “Art is not my thing.” He seems to be under no delusions about Jackie’s involvement, and is candid about his own. He says, “Everybody has an agenda. Jackie has an agenda. Jackie has a career. And one can very well say the same thing about me. That I am using Jackie in order to highlight my own struggle.”

The focus of this documentary, however, is uncertain. After the art exhibit, the film turns to Jackie’s childhood and the fact that she played competitive tackle football. There is information about her parents’ divorce and her mother’s death. It’s unclear how exactly this is related.

It is through the use of title cards that we get back to Herman’s house. A title cards reads, “After the New York exhibition, Herman asks Jackie to build his dream house in Louisiana.” Then a second reads, “He wants it to be a community center for youth.” A third reads, “Jackie needs to raise money to buy land, or have property donated.”  This film relies heavily on title cards to supply us with information.

The film introduces us to several people, including Michael Musser, who spent seven years in solitary in Angola prison, and was befriended by Herman. Michael’s mother is also present, and says that Herman helped her son. The point of this seems mainly to establish that Herman is a good guy.

There are also interviews with several prison architects, who take a look at the plans for Herman’s house. This is actually one of the most interesting segments of the film. Jeff Goodale, one of the architects, points out that there is no free-flowing space in the house. And that the central room looks like a day room in a prison. It’s sort of like Herman is creating several cells. The architects agree that it would be oppressive to live in the house. Herman says, “You’re looking at the house, you’re looking at me.”

We also meet Malik Rahim, a contractor who is helping on the project. While they were both in prison, he introduced Herman to the Black Panther Party. Malik says, about Herman, “His whole existence is a threat to those who really stand against peace and justice. ‘Cause Herman is the essence of that.” Where is he coming from with that statement? Herman is not a political prisoner. Well, it doesn’t seem to matter, as Malik Rahim completely disappears from the film. Is he still involved with the project at the end? We don’t know. This documentary fails to follow up on basically every point it introduces.

We’re briefly introduced to Nick Trenticosta, Herman Wallace’s lawyer, who tells us how he got involved. But then he too disappears from the film. And the filmmaker once again relies on title cards to tell us: “Herman is appealing his murder conviction in the Louisiana state courts.” And: “He is also part of a federal civil lawsuit challenging the practice of long-term solitary confinement.”

We’re then introduced to Robert King, who according to the title cards, led Angola’s Black Panther chapter, along with Herman and Albert Woodfox. King was freed in 2001. About Robert King and Herman, Jackie says, “These are heroes. These are gurus. These are amazing fucking human beings that I have a lot to learn from.” Seriously? Heroes? It’s at this point in the film that I decide I really don’t like her. (There was also a scene where she talked to some random black guy on the street about the Black Panthers, trying to educate him on the subject. It was pathetic.)

Jackie looks for land for Herman’s house, but decides she now wants to buy a house for herself too. And a dog. A title card tells us, “Six months later and deep in debt, Jackie moves into her new house.” We see her with the neighbor’s kids in her house. She says she thinks of them as her own children. So she set out to create Herman’s house, a community youth center, but instead got her own house, and a dog. Actually, I’m only assuming it’s her dog. Perhaps it’s her neighbor’s dog. For once, a title card doesn’t tell us.

Toward the end of the film, we finally see Jackie going to the prison (there is footage of her driving there). Apparently she’s been there a lot, but we’ve never seen it. She talks about how she pooped and is glad because usually she can’t when she visits the prison due to anxiety. But we get no footage inside the prison. If it was impossible to get that footage, then why show her getting ready to go, as if this were something special? Why the information about her bowel movement?

The film seems to lack a point of view. My two questions to the filmmaker would be, “What is the story?” and “How do you feel about it?” Is the movie about a man perhaps wrongly convicted of murder? Is it about prison reform, and the cruelty of solitary confinement? Is it about an artist, or about art’s ability to free us? Is it about building a youth center? Is it about race (was he sent to solitary for being a Black Panther)? Ultimately it feels like a film about an artist who gets caught up in a project whose scope is beyond her capabilities, and which she has no idea how to complete. (This led me to wonder just how established she is in the art community. How well known is she? There are no interviews with Jackie’s friends to put this project into perspective, to ground us. There is no voice of reason.)

There is also the question that is never asked in the film, but which I kept asking myself, regarding the building of this house: Is this a worthwhile endeavor? And does a community center need a six foot by nine foot hot tub in the master bathroom?  When Jackie mentions at one point (and only at one point) that there might need to be changes in the house plans, Herman gets upset and tells her then it wouldn’t be Herman’s House. And I have to ask, Who cares?

Title cards at the end tell us, “Jackie continues to make art and look for land.” And: “Herman is now in his 40^th year of solitary confinement.” We’re also given the usual statistics about how many people are incarcerated in the United States (nearly 2.3 million) and how many are in solitary confinement (more than 80,000). These are staggering numbers, but this film is really not about that.

Special Features

The DVD includes a few bonus features. Under the title “Bonus Videos” are several deleted scenes and an interview with the director. The interview is titled “Cinema Politica Artist Talks With Angad Bhalla,” and is approximately seven and a half minutes. The director talks about how he got into filmmaking, and about this film. He says the film is about Herman and his friendship with Jackie. Okay.

There are four deleted scenes, the first featuring Robert King making candy. The other three focus on Michael Musser, with footage of him talking about solitary confinement. The DVD also includes a short filmmaker’s biography.

Herman’s House was released on July 8, 2013 through First Run Features.