‘Bertie’ balances helplessness and hope

Reginald, Davonte and Bud, the three young men profiled in “Raising Bertie,” can feel the hopelessness closing in around them. The rural North Carolina county of Bertie has 27 prisons within a 100-mile radius.

Margaret Byrne’s documentary follows the trio for six of the most formative years of their lives, as they face educational challenges, fatherless homes and a hard uphill struggle with uncertain rewards.

Byrne was a cinematopher and editor on the 2013 documentary “American Promise,” a 13-years-in-the-life look at two African American boys in New York City. Her approach is to get out of the way and wait, following the subjects to school, church, parties and prison.

Time seems to erode what little joy her subjects have in their lives, exposing harder edges and diminishing prospects. Nobody wants to fail, but the options — including leaving Bertie — all seem impossible.

Byrne provides no voice-over and very few titles, trusting the viewer to make their own political and social interpretations. The decision adds to the immersiveness, but leaps in time of a year or more create some minor narrative confusion. (A brawl in the middle of the documentary is particularly confusing — the participants and reason for the fight are unclear.)

While the action is minimal — being a young African-American man in Bertie is a slow grind — there are shining lights thoughout. A social worker who runs a continuation school shows genuine love for the young men, clearly able to see the good inside them. Davonte in particular displays a natural kindness that can’t be knocked or wrung out of him.

And throughout the documentary, there is a disarming sense of community pride. People wearing Bertie shirts, working to improve the town, finding love and holding on to the little things they have.

Byrne is the furthest thing from being a manipulative filmmaker. But “Raising Bertie” is moving nonetheless.

phartlaub@sfchronicle.com twitter.com/PeterHartlaub