Don't Be Nice is an emotionally-charged, enlightening, and inspirational documentary released in 2018. It was directed by Max Powers and produced by Nikhil Melnechuk and Cora Atkinson. The film's runtime is 95 minutes and it features a captivating blend of performances that cross a multitude of generations and social experiences.

The documentary offers an inside look at a competitive team of slam poets as they prepare to compete on the national level. The team, Bowman: The Uptown Poetry Slam, hails from New York. Comprising five talented African-American millennials, they express their humanity and passion through an exploration of identity, race, and self-expression that transcends the bounds of traditional performance poetry. Using the backdrop of the United States’ various societal and racial issues as their canvas, these poets courageously verbalize their experiences and the experiences of others.

The title, Don't Be Nice, challenges the convention of being politically correct and refraining from speaking openly about issues regarding race, political bias, and social construct. And that's precisely what these poets do—they challenge the norm, they incite dialogue, they disrupt comfort zones, they refuse to be simply 'nice'.

The poetry team was coached by two experienced mentors, Lauren Whitehead and Jon Sands, who insisted that for their craft to inspire, the poets had to delve into their personal and often painful life experiences. They encouraged their team to unleash their vulnerability and use it as a source of power to drive their performances. Passionate, raw, and highly emotional, the team spent many nights rehearsing, rewriting, and honing their craft, in pursuit of a collective voice that would ring truest to their experiences and perspectives.

The film captures their journey towards the national championships. It showcases the trials and tribulations that unfold within the close-knit group of poets as they push each other to expand their individual and shared boundaries. Never shying away from tackling controversial themes, the documentary dives deep into their lives, backgrounds, personal struggles, and victories, which each poet channels into their verses.

Viewers will likely resonate with how the poets grapple with the constant struggle of being vulnerable and sharing their personal experiences with the world at large. Don't Be Nice explores the quintessential battle involved in any form of art—authenticity versus acceptance. In this case, the balance these poets seek is to remain truthful to their experiences while manifesting their creative and artistic expression in a way that the audience appreciates.

From a single mother dealing with prejudice, a gay man grappling with identity and acceptance, to a young woman confronting the constraints of societal empiricism, each poet has a story. And each story, unravelled through their barrier-breaking performances, is a testament to the real-life experiences of countless individuals.

At its heart, Don't Be Nice is also a documentation of the craft of slam poetry itself. Slam poetry, while a form of spoken word performance, becomes a powerful tool for activism and dissent in the hands of these performers. It paints an intimate portrait of how this art form, unvarnished and edgy as it is, serves as both a weapon and a shield against the societal challenges they face.

A key feature of this film lies in its unique cinematography, which is crafted to reflect the poets' experiences. The rapid-fire editing mimics the quicksilver wordplay of the poets, while the rich, vivid colours match the vibrancy and vitality of their performances. The film also features a visceral, jazzy score by Khari Mateen that uplifts the imagery while subtly underlying the multiple layers of emotion in each scene.

Don't Be Nice is a movie that interweaves poetry, personal narratives, and societal critique to create a moving, cinematic experience. It explores what it means to be black, to be a millennial, to be a poet, to be vulnerable and, above all, to be human. It is a compelling watch that evokes thought, incites dialogue, and leaves viewers moved by the power of words to shaping conversations about what really matters in our society.