I'm familiar with Van Jones from various TV pundit/guest appearances, and his podcast "Uncommon Ground." I appreciate that he brings two opposing sides together to talk intelligently without nasty words to explore solutions across idealogical lines.

"The First Step" is at least as much of a "getting to know" the life of Van Jones as it is a doc on the prison reform legislation that gives the film its title. It also offers a close up look into the sort of politicking that seems to be part of the lawmaking process. The sincere contributions of others are also portrayed. Access to tense meetings and actual negotiations gives the film its substance.

That said, on a production level, the less-than-ideal audio can make it very difficult to hear what people are saying. At times, captions are employed. While I appreciate how difficult it can be to get good audio in these situations, more captioning could reduce those issues.

The other problem with the doc is in the wrap up. Van Jones states that he aims to get a prison reformation bill passed, not sentencing reform. Ultimately the later is included in the bill to keep it alive. That's fine, but the documentary concludes with a few anecdotal happy prisoners being released early. But, where are the portrayals of prison reform? Wasn't this his aim? This results in a "bait and switch" feel, rather than a solid resolve. I wanted to see the meat of the reform. I wanted to hear what steps were put in place to help prisoners succeed on the outside.

In sum, this is a flawed, but worthwhile documentary. In an age where Americans seem to be losing trust in negotiation and even the intentions of "the other side," we urgently need to see examples of people who can have meaningful, civil, productive discussions with those they completely disagree with. This film offers a rare media example of that.

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