Description

In Security is an engaging and thought provoking one-hour documentary film about how barbed wire, a simple 19^th century invention used to secure agricultural property, has evolved into a silent sentinel that acts as a means of control over people and spaces around the world. Since its inception, barbed wire, a.k.a. the “Devil’s Rope,” has become a ubiquitous feature of our daily lives yet we never give it a second thought. Used as a security barrier, it surrounds pastures in the countryside, parking lots, homes and other buildings in the city. Its general purpose is to warn people not to cross a line and to emphasize that trespassing in a specific area is forbidden. On another level, barbed wire is used as a frontline obstacle by the military forces of the world, as a boundary marker between countries, and as an impenetrable wall around prisons and other institutions where absolute control over the movement of human beings is required. Barbed wire is used everywhere for security purposes, but it also speaks loudly about the insecurity of our times.

Produced and directed by Ron Harpelle and Kelly Saxberg, In Security is a historical journey from Texas and the Great Plains, to the 20^th century battlefields of Europe, and on to South Africa, the Middle East, the U.S border with Mexico and finally to the Louisiana State Penitentiary. The film reveals how barbed wire introduced concepts of boundaries and private property where none existed before, and how strands of wire have been used ever since to restrict the free movement of people everywhere. The premise of “In Security” is that barbed wire, although silent, speaks clearly of the turmoil of our past and present.