You wouldn’t expect Chicago teenagers to care much about poetry.
But, as we learn in the uplifting documentary “Louder Than a Bomb,” more than 600 teens from 60 Chicago-area schools gather annually for a popular poetry contest called Louder Than a Bomb, at which they recite original, personal works before excited audiences of their peers.
The poetry has more in common with rap lyrics than Baudelaire, but that just increases the fun.
Directed by Greg Jacobs and Jon Siskel (Gene Siskel’s nephew), the film zeros in on four participants in the 2008 contest.
Most interesting are Adam Gottlieb, from an upscale prep school, whose parents are squarely behind him, and Nova Venerable, from a far less prestigious school, who became an honors student despite the drawbacks of a broken family.
“I have a boyfriend who loves me more than you ever did,” she raps, referring to the father she hasn’t seen in five years.
Who says poetry has to be dull?