John Sinclair - 20 To Life: The Life & Times Of John Sinclair

The high times of Mr Dope, Guns & Fucking In The Streets

Poet, revolutionary, cultural activist, marijuana champion and free jazz bohemian, there’s much more to John Sinclair than his time as manager of the MC5, as this award-winning documentary makes colourfully clear. Some 13 years in the making, Steve Gebhardt’s film charts the incredible saga of John Sinclair, all the way from his roots in small town Michigan, to his founding of the Detroit Writers’ Workshop, Trans Love Energies and his role as chairman of the White Panther Party. Later a radio DJ in Detroit and New Orleans, he re-emerged as a poet and his work with his band The Blues Scholars. Besides painting a vivid picture of the turbulence on the streets of Detroit during the mid-to-late 60s via a mix of interviews and archive footage, 20 To Life chronicles Sinclair’s attempts to overturn the nine-and-a-half-to-10-year jail sentence he picked up in July 1969 for passing two marijuana joints to an undercover policewoman. There’s also the high profile John Sinclair Freedom Rally, held in Detroit, December 1971, which included an appearance from John & Yoko which led to Sinclair being released from prison three days later, and Michigan’s marijuana laws being changed as a result of his release.

MVD Visual | MVDV 4613

Reviewed by Grahame Bent
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