The Film
Somebody To Lean On
An Ohio men’s prison choir rehearses “Lean On Me” and shows how hope and harmony can be built by voices coming together.
Synopsis
Inside a prison in rural Ohio, a group of men gather every Wednesday to do something unexpected: make music together. Somebody To Lean On follows the Pickaway men’s choir as they rehearse “Lean On Me,” fifty years after Bill Withers wrote the iconic song.
Part of the Harmony Project — a community program with a long waitlist and only one requirement: community service — the choir breaks down walls: between men of different backgrounds, between the incarcerated and those on the outside, between who someone was and who they might become.
Told entirely in the participants’ own voices, Somebody To Lean On is a quiet counter-argument to division: how hope can be built even when it seems hard to find, and that transformation can start with showing up and sharing your voice.
Where you are doesn’t define who you are.
Why it matters
Since 1972, the year “Lean On Me” was written, the incarceration rate in the US has nearly quadrupled.
In a time of increasing division, this film shows how people from different backgrounds and experiences can find common ground and, together, build a stronger community.
As the prison population has ballooned, rehabilitation and re-entry programs have been slashed, raising ethical issues and economic questions about the most effective way to spend tax dollars.
Somebody To Lean On highlights a powerful initiative of Harmony Project, a public service organization in Columbus, Ohio, which engages thousands of citizens in its transformational work.
Approach
A creative vision for impact
Underscoring Harmony Project’s commitment to the idea that “where you are does not define who you are,” the film is crafted without title cards and other descriptors, as these would emphasize hierarchical structure or define individuals by their relationship to the prison system.
Using entirely music and sound from within the space of incarceration and the people involved in the program, Somebody To Lean On amplifies voices that often are not heard.
The Song
“Sometimes in our lives we all have pain, we all have sorrow, but if we are wise, we know that there’s always tomorrow.”
“Lean On Me” underscores the importance of supporting one another, highlighting how our connections can provide strength and hope in difficult times.
The Bill Withers song, released in 1972, remains a classic, reaching over 300 million listeners on Spotify to date.
