'ON THE OUTS' SHOWS GHETTO'S CHAOS.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

The gritty drug drama ``On the Outs'' opens with a searing, a cappella version of ``Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,'' and then very quietly drives the song's point home later, showing Lady Liberty herself looming over the desolate streets of Jersey City. The message: No one is embracing the movie's tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free, and the filmmakers' sense of outrage is palpable, matched only by the despair coursing through the movie's brief 81-minute running time.

``On the Outs'' sprang from the case studies of women that the film's directors - Lori Silverbush and Michael Skolnik - met in the Hudson County Juvenile Detention Center. Part of the film is even set in the dreary confines of the detention center, where the movie's three main characters briefly stay before returning to the streets and their previous lives, no lessons learned, no questions asked.

Indeed, the power of the movie comes from its matter-of-fact presentation of the chaos of the ghetto. Shot on grainy digital video, the neighborhood scenes have the feel of live-in, blighted reality - much like that in the similarly disturbing ``Down To the Bone'' - that makes you understand why someone might turn to drugs or thugs to escape.

Tough-girl Oz (Judy Marte, ``Juicy Judy'' from ``Raising Victor Vargas'') deals drugs, even as her addict mother (Ana ``Rok'' Garcia) struggles to stay clean. Sheltered Suzette (Anny Mariano) falls for a dealer (Clarence Hutchinson) and remains loyal to him even though he puts her in jeopardy with the law. Drug addict Marisol (Paola Mendoza) loses her infant daughter after landing in juvenile jail.

The movie offers little background, taking as fact the characters' limited options and subsequent desperate behavior. The girls' choices aren't excused, either; once incarcerated, they are berated by a straight-shooting ``inspirational'' speaker (though this could be also read as a comment on a lack of institutional support). Fact is, it's difficult to root for sweet Marisol getting her kid back when we've seen her criminally neglect the little girl, going so far as giving her food away in return for a hit off the crack pipe.

But then, the filmmakers want you to feel outraged, both at the decisions these women make and the society that turns a blind eye to the crushing poverty and hopelessness that is more prevalent in our midst than we care to think. In that respect, they have completely succeeded.

Glenn Whipp, [phone]

glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com

ON THE OUTS - Three stars

(R: pervasive language, strong drug use, some violence and sexual content.)

Starring: Judy Marte, Ana ``Rok'' Garcia, Paola Mendoza.

Director: Lori Silverbush, Michael Skolnik.

Running time: 1 hr. 21 min.

Playing: Laemmle's One Colorado in Pasadena; Edwards Southgate;Laemmle Fairfax in Los Angeles; Magic Johnson Theaters in Los Angeles.

In a nutshell: Gritty drug drama follows three young women and the desperate choices that land them in jail. Delivers the intended punch to the gut.