Just The Right Amount of Violence with it’s World Premiere at the HotDocs13 Documentary Festival, is a must see. Directed and written by Jon Bang Carlsen, starring Robert Adanto, Quinn Butterfield and Melissa Carnell, it was filmed on location in Los Angeles, California and deals with one of the most pressing social issues of our time – teenage rebellion and family disfunction. It is in international spectrum film from Denmark and is best suited for an audience seeking an a-typical documentary experience.

In the suburbs of southern California are a multitude of tragic untold stories of extreme teenage rebellion and family dysfunctionality: drinking, excessive drug use, violence and more. All of this is hidden under a facade of the ideal family workings: Good schools, money, cars and large houses with white picket fences. For parents who have reached their wits-end: enter real-life interventionists, Evan “Bullet” James and Dana “Hodges” Goller. In the wee hours of the morning, Bullet and Hodges take rebellious teens out of their bed, against their will and ship them off to a reform “boot camp” center in Utah.

Using a layered effect of candid interviews with real life interventionists and reform school workers, Carlsen is able to reveal the complicated truth of the modern United States family. From problem children to suicidal teens unwanted by their parents “Just The Right Amount Of Violence” exposes the dark underbelly of broken suburban families.

The challenge in re-telling these real-life stories is that no parent in their right mind is willing to talk about, let alone document shipping their kid off to a reform school (often compared with low level prisons in terms of supervision and security). Jon Bang Carlsen describes his style as, “freeing himself from the mask of reality, to reach into a truth that is often described as a lie” which is an essential skill set for airing these neglected but critical issues.

Created in Carlsen’s cinéma vérité style, Just The Right Amount of Violence combines elements of fictional storytelling and documentary filmmaking; an unusual hybrid film that lies somewhere between reality and straight up fabrications. An interesting take on the “reality” genre, this film soars in artistic merit when contrasted to it’s more vulgar cousin “reality TV’. Beautiful cinematography, superb acting and emotionally driven storytelling are highlights of this documentary. In addition to documenting the trials of these youths and families, Carlsen juxtaposes their story with his own experience of childhood abandonment. Interviews with current reform school workers help construct a touching film about the complex and multifarious relationships between parents and their children.