"The Work" of Healing Masculinity

“A process so ego-stripping that it feels unseemly to witness,
The Work is enlightening yet also punishing.” 
— New York Times

“The most powerful group therapy session ever caught on camera.”  
— IndieWire

"Masculinity"

The word often conjures images of stoicism.

You know, the strong and silent type of men.
Boys hear it constantly: "Man up." "Don't cry."
Emotions? We learn to bury them deep.

Our society molds men into emotionless statues. Our value is measured by competence. We are obsessed with “dominance hierarchies”, self induced suffering— all supported by a system that has been created by our own hands. But from a mind different than ours.

This is wrong. And we all know it deep in our hearts. True strength lies not in the absence of feeling. A documentary, called "The Work," dares to ask this. This is one of my favourite documentaries I have watched so far! In my 28 years on planet earth.

It explores an intense therapy retreat.
The setting: Folsom Prison.
The participants: inmates and outsiders.

What unfolds is a challenge to everything we think we know about men. 
It's about raw emotion.

Inside the Prison Doors

Inside, a different kind of confinement begins. "The Work" takes us there. Folsom State Prison; the name itself carries weight because it's not just any prison. Opened in 1880, it's California's second-oldest, a fortress built from granite quarried by the inmates themselves.

For decades, it held some of the most violent offenders, earning a reputation as the "end of the line." It was one of the first maximum-security prisons in the United States. Imagine cold, stone cells & life long sentences. Think a place where hope goes to die.

While it now houses primarily medium-security inmates, the echoes of its past remain. The granite walls still stand, a stark reminder of the harsh reality within. This is the place where the documentary "The Work" unfolds.

Not the best tourist destination.
This is where men live, locked away.
But something special happens here.

Would you think about social rehab, group therapy? In such a place?