Common Sense Media Review
By Jennifer Green
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Teens confront challenges in docu; mature themes, violence.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Our Words Collide
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
OUR WORDS COLLIDE profiles five teenage participants of the Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization Get Lit. Students write and perform spoken word poetry, expressing their feelings about life's challenges, from their high school senior year getting closed down due to COVID to their mental health challenges and the social obstacles they face. They film themselves at home, sharing their daily lives, some in neighborhoods rampant with violence, and they talk about past events that have shaped them as well as their hopes for the future. They also perform some of their own poetry.
Is It Any Good?
Spoken word poetry demands listeners' attention, and this film about disadvantaged teens finding peace, joy, stability, and community through the creative outlet of poetry deserves your attention. If you were wowed by poet Amanda Gorman's performance at age 22 at the 2020 presidential inauguration, you will be moved by these young people's performances and their life experiences. As a documentary, Our Words Collide doesn't try to innovate; it lets the teens tell their own stories. This is mostly through daily check-ins on cameras in their homes, a method that became essential when COVID sent people into quarantine in the middle of filming. The most exciting moments of the film are when the teens dress up and speak their heartfelt, drumbeat poetry in an empty black space with dramatic stage lighting.
What the film lacks in aesthetic vivacity otherwise, it more than makes up for in the earnest first-hand stories of its subjects. All five of the teens profiled have gone through struggles, some of which no child should have to experience. What we see them accomplish despite the odds, and thanks in no small part to the role of the Get Lit program in their lives, is praiseworthy, and it's gratifying to see their next steps after high school in the film's closing sequences. One complaint: end credits show the kids being goofy, and it makes you realize how little of that is included in the film. Their stories are tough, but they're still kids -- and the final footage reveals a lighter side missing in the film.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how the teens in Our Words Collide show resilience and perseverance. How do these character strengths prove to be important in their lives? Can you think of specific examples?
What is the mission of the Get Lit and similar programs? What has been their impact beyond these five teenagers? Where can you go for more information?
Could you relate to any of the profiled people's stories? How so? If not, what did you learn from hearing their stories? How can you apply what they've experienced and learned to your own life?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : April 23, 2024
- Cast : Tyris Winter , Amari Turner , Jason Alvarez
- Directors : Jordan Barrow , Matt Edwards
- Studio : Freestyle Digital Media
- Genre : Documentary
- Topics : Activism , School ( High School )
- Character Strengths : Communication , Perseverance
- Run time : 94 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : September 18, 2025
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