This movie sounds like a good piece of fiction. In Porters poetry he says: "I remember the guy I killed. I drank with him once down the Lynn Tape and Grille." But on the record he still denies pulling the trigger. Which is it? How can Porter represent redemption if he can't even admit to what he did? Porter is the ultimate con man. He conned his way into a minimum security prison in order to escape, he conned his way into the Chicago Poetry Scene in order to live his alter-ego, and now he's even conned a movie studio into thinking his life of murder, lies and deceit is INTERESTING.
He probably has a dual personality, as the directors tried to show both sides. His nice poet self involved in community, and the murderer self who was imprisoned.
Let's get something straight, there was no "nice poet" named JJ Jameson. I knew him personally for over ten years. He was a crass, mean, rude and offensive individual. He had a few friends here in Chicago who he manipulated, probably by revealing his secret to them making them feel special, and to this day this handful of goofballs celebrate this mean old farts life as if all his criminal activity and drunken behavior somehow represents rehabilitation and redemption. They even have a fan club called "friend-of-norman-a-porter" and now they even made a movie about him. He killed two people, escaped from jail and lied to everyone for twenty years: where is the honor in that? Where is the class in that????