Exodus

By: Malasha Parker

Exodus is a calm, undramatized and intimate look into the lives of women who do not want to be defined by what they’ve done. This documentary shows the people behind the crime and focuses more on how they should continue to be treated as such, rather than how they have lived in their past traumas. It’s a beautiful portrayal of how adjusting after incarceration can seem easy when masked well but takes a mental and emotional toll on the one beginning their freedom journey. 

Exodus tells the story of Trinity Copeland and Assia Serrano as they navigate through their release from prison and everything that happens afterwards. Trinity recaps her sentencing and what led to her being incarcerated. She describes the way she felt when committing her crime and how over time her feelings have changed. She has kept in touch with her family then reflects on life and how she thinks it will be after prison. Once Trinity is released she realizes quickly that just because she is back home with family, everything isn’t easily falling back into place. There is still tension between her and her mother. Trinity eventually finds a balance and starts school to become an interpreter and also seeks to begin therapy. Assia Serrano is a mother of two children who was deported back to Panama after seventeen years in prison. Two  days before her release date she got news of her deportation and it turned her world upside down once again. Assia is the first immigrant survivor to be granted release under the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act (“DVSJA”) law. Once Assia is released, she will have to remain in Panama but she is working towards getting the Mayor to approve her return to New York. Her children were young when she was arrested and she has been able to see them less because of her deportation. Her unique case places her in a position where she will have a release date, but ultimately still be in a prison because of her inability to see her children regularly. It is difficult for her to find work and she feels alienated from the people of Panama. It’s a difficult situation that Assia tries to navigate. However, she continues to fight to get her deportation lifted and gets a chance to see her children when they can come and visit her in Panama. 

Audiences of this documentary get a view of what life is like after prison in a genuine way. Nothing is overdramatized and everything is real. The raw emotions of Trinity and Assia’s experiences with being incarcerated are not overexposed to the audience. Though they mention they were in prison for murder, that is not what stands out in the film. Trinity struggled with forgiveness while she was in prison. In fact, one of the most important statements Trinity says is about needing to forgive herself for what she has done. Though she is aware that she was in a darker place and made the decision to commit the crime, she also sees the wrong in what she did at the time. She wants to continue to work on herself and forgive the family members that she holds some hostility towards from the details surrounding her case. Assia’s resilience throughout her incarceration showed the lengths she will go through to be with her family. She has already had to miss being there to take care of her children when they were younger, but the chance to spend as much time with them as possible is always on her mind. The constant need to improve themselves is the driving force behind these strong women and it is a beautiful thing to watch. They are in no way trying to return to the people they were before incarceration. 

Director Nimco Sheikhoden does excellent work highlighting these two women as human beings and not spectacles for the world to judge. The audience can see them and understand where their apprehension and fear may be coming from. Trinity was a child when she was incarcerated and Assia was a woman who dated the wrong man. They have grown tremendously since then. Sheikhoden uses her lens to capture the deeper emotions behind the liberated but never truly free women who are grappling with so much while also trying to reintegrate themselves into the real world. Society is still not kind to those who have been convicted of crimes, whether they have rehabilitated or not. Sheikhoden’s documentary shows how the crimes people commit are not always synonymous with the people who committed them. 

This documentary Exodus isn’t meant to be jaw dropping and reaction-inducing. Instead, it is meant to be a film that tells it like it is without outside forces creating a narrative. These are real people with real stories and real pain. It is a great film to watch for those who need to reconnect with reality and understand that not everyone has their life set up the same way. Not everything can change for the better or turn out how they want it to, but it will all eventually get better.