10-7 for Life

10-7 for Life is a funny, raw and occasionally violent chronicle of the last two weeks of Carol Banks' life as a cop in the Parkdale area of Toronto.

It's not an easy decision--she comes from a family of cops. Her father, a retired Superintendent with forty years' service on the Force, would like her to maintain the 85-year-long family tradition. But PC Banks says, "In fourteen years I've probably seen more than anyone should have to in eighty-five. (In this city) there's no more compassion, just cynicism."

Filmed by Carol's sister, Cindy Banks, this documentary offers an intimate, and sometimes uncomfortable picture of the intensity of life in 14 Division. The camera stares unflinchingly at the brutalising aspects of the officers' work, and eavesdrops on their sometimes harsh sense of humour.

10-7 for Life explores the contrasts and absurdities of working the streets: from the now-almost-routine gang shootings to a colleague's shocking murder, to what PC Banks calls the 'baby-sitting'--trying to help people who can't look after themselves.

A rare inside look at a police force struggling to cope with an increasingly violent city, and an intimate portrait of one burnt-out cop who has to leave for her own peace of mind.