Early in the film Sing Sing, a group of inmates in the titular maximum-security prison gather for a brainstorming session. As members of the Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) program, they have to pick their next play to stage, and one of them has suggested they come up with an original comedy. At first the men hesitate, but they gradually enter into a flow of pitches: One wants cowboys to be involved. Another suggests incorporating ancient Egypt as a setting. A fan of A Nightmare on Elm Street proposes adding the character Freddy Krueger into the mix, because why not? The group generates idea after idea without stopping, each member buoyed by the others’ clear enthusiasm.
Sing Sing is full of scenes like this: moments in which a creative exercise sparks a refreshing camaraderie among the incarcerated men. Based on the real-life program that offers the facility’s inhabitants an…