A group of incarcerated fathers are warned in the documentary that they’re about to go on “emotional rollercoasters.” A truer prediction has never been uttered. In the film, directed by Natalie Rae and Angela Patton, the imprisoned fathers at a Washington, D.
C., correctional facility, are given a rare gift: a few hours to spend with their daughters, who range in age from 5 to late teens. For one afternoon, they can be together to dance, hug and laugh.
For some of the girls, the program, called the Daddy Daughter Dance, will be the first time they’ve ever touched their father. Others haven’t seen their dad in years. The trend in U.
S. prisons has been toward video calls and away from in-person “touch” visits. Even “in-person” visits are often through plexiglass and a phone.
The unspoken question that runs through “Daughters,” which debuts Wednesday on Netflix, is: Should it be this seldom that incarcerated men have real human interaction with their children? In this heartache of a documentary, the most plaintive plea is a basic one. Whatever else they are, one of the incarcerated men says, “We’re still fathers.” “Daughters,” earlier this year, first turns its attention to some of the young girls as they prepare for the afternoon.
Aubrey, a chatty, immediately loveable 5-year-old, says, “When he says he loves me, I’m gonna say I love him more.” Aubrey’s father, Keith, will be in prison for another seven years, a time period that even a 5-y.