In 1989, five black and Latino teenagers from Harlem were arrested and later convicted of raping a white woman in New York City's Central Park. They spent between 6 and 13 years in prison before a serial rapist confessed that he alone had committed the crime, leading to their convictions being overturned. Set against a backdrop of a decaying city beset by violence and racial tension, this is the story of that horrific crime, the rush to judgment by the police, a media clamoring for sensational stories and an outraged public, and the five lives upended by this miscarriage of justice.
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Reviews
Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
Simply A Masterpiece
When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
Ken Burns is a liberal. I have to say that from the onset. Now I can say that Ken Burns is amazing when he makes documentaries about the Civil War or Mark Twain. This documentary the Central Park Five not so good. I am aghast that Mr. Burns conveniently makes these five young punks out to be the victims. No they were anything but victims. They were the aggressors all over the park that night. One of them even said that he beat a man.The five punks were on a roll in the park, and they were committing a myriad of crimes. Back then this was called "wilding".A term for punks who go around hurting citizens just because they can. I have no time for punks who attack citizens that they do not know, just because it gives them something to do. I feel for the young woman. But of course she was a white woman so she does not matter in this documentary. If you are a liberal and you feel empathy for punks running amok, then this is for you. I am on the side of no empathy for punks.I feel empathy for the woman who almost died.
I watched this last night and I've now had a chance to step back and consider this documentary more carefully. Overall I feel that it really could've been produced far better in several ways but having said that it certainly keeps you watching from start to finish and would recommend it to anyone to watch.I viewed this knowing nothing about this case beforehand & I was left with the feeling that this was really a documentary that was unfortunately one sided and produced primarily to present to the viewers the great wrong-doing that was done to the 5 kids who were wrongly convicted. Much of the documentary is giving voice to the victims of this case and as another review already mentions no one from the other side such as officers or layers or in fact anyone at all that could of given an alternative perspective, was part of this documentary. So therefor we are left with a very one sided view and it really didn't allow us to understand the motivations and reasons to why this happened to these 5 people other than the more obvious reasons that the documentary presents.What I felt would of really brought this documentary alive was to give some perspective onto the pressures and life of the convicting police officers during this time and to delve more into the experience of the kids growing up in prison knowing you have been wrongly convicted. We didn't find out much about their experience in prison at all.But again having said this I would still recommend this documentary and for me it once again highlights and makes you consider how society and we as individuals then, now and all through history in fact, love to witness a horrible crime and find at all costs the individual or individuals on which the guilt rests; which is why even as a viewer we have such strong reactions to this. "As you see him, you will see yourself ... As you think of him you will think of yourself for in him you will find yourself or lose yourself." ACIM (T-8.III.4:2-5)
This is a taut and suspenseful piece of documentation. It will get your dander up. Especially if you believe in the democratic principals of freedom and justice. It's about five young men whose fundamental rite of passage was stripped from them. They were forced to spend their formative years being caught up in a justice system gone awry. That precious time of life when we get to decide who we are and what we are to become. Those transformative years between 13 and 18 when we get to make the declaration of 'I Am'! If you're left wondering 'Who am I' at the end of that period something has been stolen from you that can never be replaced. That's what this documentary is ultimately about-and it will leave you questioning 'Who are we'? That boys lives can be compromised-the promise of becoming. You can almost see the direct correlation between The Central Park Five and Trayvon Martin, African and Latino American boys being denied the rite of becoming. It is a human tragedy of which we all should feel some sense of shame.
I was leery of this despite a friend's recommendation. I didn't live in NY at the time and basically ignored the news reports. So, this film I found fascinating, should be required for all law students and certainly worthwhile for everyone else. It could have been 5 or 10 minutes shorter but frankly I feel that way about most films. I had a bit of confusion sorting out the Five and their adult selves. (One of them changed to or from a Muslim-sounding name, I think). Also it's a very interesting portrait of NYC circa 1990. I'd like to know more about why the civil case is still "unresolved". The tone of the film is indignant but, more importantly, it is truth-seeking. That's why it's so compelling: we viewers want to find out what happened.
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