Louis Theroux - Analysis

Louis Theroux’s Behind Bars in San Quentin is an actuality documentary by Theroux about the inside life of maximum security prison San Quentin. The documentary involves interviews with some of the inmates of the prison and some of the guards that take charge over the inmates, as well as facts and statistics about the popular prison.

 

The documentary starts with a fade from black to an establishing shot of the large prison which communicates the quantity it can hold due to its size. We are then shown Theroux and an inmate who appears to be in a cage-like cell. They are shown with shot-reverse shot in a handheld manner. They are discussing what ‘thrills’ the inmate and then Louis delivers the line: “But maybe the things that thrill me aren’t things that are going to get me 500 years in prison”. We are then introduced to the hook of the documentary which is: What has the inmate done? Is this he sort of prisoner that is held here? Are we going to find out more about him?

 

It then cuts to a shot of Theroux walking through the prison entrance which connotes that this is the first time he walked through the prison doors. Again this is shown with a handheld camera which is popular with documentary films as it more practical especially in this case where a tripod would be hard to operate and set up in a high security prison.

 

There is use of anchorage in this shot as both contrapuntal music, which does not match the situation Theroux is in, and the BBC studio logo appear at the same time. Due to the BBC logo and the high reputation that it upholds, it is assumed that this documentary will be of a high standard.

 

Theroux then is heard in a voiceover where he unveils facts and statistics about San Quentin prison such as it being one of America’s oldest prisons which is famous for its death row. Theroux also states that for two weeks he is/was allowed inside to access information about the prison. The fact that he is allowed inside such a notorious and sometimes dangerous prison reveals his status within the documentary field.

 

The title screen appears on screen 1:17 minutes into the documentary. The titles consist of the name of the documentary and Theroux’s silhouette behind bars. It gives a very cartoon-like image as it is animated and is presented as a different tone to what the audience would have assumed the documentary would be like.