Louder Than a Bomb (2010)

As far back I have always been writing. When I was very young I used to write short stories, sometimes starring famous cartoon characters, other times something I made up entirely. During my teenage years I and in my early twenties I wrote lyrics and rapped. Now at the end of my thirties this blog is the form my writing has taken. Writing has always been a way of expressing myself and it is something I will probably keep doing. This documentary follows several young writers who express themselves in their way: poetry. They all participate in the Louder Than a Bomb competition, where groups from several schools try to win the title.

The poets who are the focus of the documentary all come from different backgrounds. Nate is one of the oldest contestants who has participated for years and this will be the last year he can enter. Because of the experience he has grown a lot. Adam is someone who gets full support from his parents in everything he does. A couple of his poems are shown and they really blew me away. Nova is someone who also manages to do that, but for different reasons. She writes about her difficult youth, having to deal with a father who neglected her and her autistic brother. Because of that she had to do everything in the house and that pain that brought comes out through her poetry. She moves people with her words. Besides these individuals a group is also followed called The Steinmenauts. The come from a bad neighbourhood and won the title the year before. The question is whether they can defend it.

This documentary is constructed well as it slowly builds towards the competition, first showing the personal stories and amazing poetry. You can’t help to be impressed by the amount of talent on display coming from relatively young poets. Even if you are not interested in poetry I would still suggest you’d check out Louder Than a Bomb, it is that good.

Trailer:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81hXGdFF6TQ]