Time Parent Guide

Twenty years ago, Sibil “Fox Rich” Richardson and her husband Rob made a major mistake: they participated in the armed robbery of a small bank to get money to look after their six kids. Fox served three and a half years in prison, but Rob was sentenced to 60 years. Since then, Fox has been busy raising their family, running a business, fighting for prison reform, and trying to see her husband freed from that extended sentence. Sound easy?

This is a very focused, very personal documentary. Much of the footage was taken by Fox as home-video for Rob, so he could catch up on all the things he missed in prison. While Fox is certainly passionate about the issues of prison reform and injustice, the film doesn’t look beyond Fox and Rob’s personal experiences. There’s no third person narration, no interviews with experts or anything like that: just Sibil Richardson, trying to make her way in an increasingly unkind world.

Time is certainly emotionally impactful and effective in the story it wants to tell, but I think it would have benefitted from a broader perspective. Richardson is unbelievably charismatic and hard-working, but hers is hardly the only family affected by these issues. Given its sub-90-minute runtime, the movie could afford to show more of the scope of the problem without dragging itself out.

As with most documentaries, this is broadly suitable for family viewing apart from a few instances of profanity – not that it would be terribly interesting to children. I think this is best suited to kids in middle or high school, simply because they’re more likely to be aware of these issues and interested in first person experiences of the penal system.

While I wish the filmmakers had broadened their focus, Time certainly works as an important look at the personal and familial effects of mass incarceration. Taken in conjunction with other docs on the issue, it lends a very human lens to the discussion – and an incredible one at that. The determination and never-say-die spirit of Fox Rich are astounding. With the amounts she has of both qualities, I think she’d stand a decent chance of changing the color of the sky by force of will alone.