The Central Park Five (2013)

The Central Park Five (2013)

starring Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Yusef Salaam, Korey Wise

written and directed by Sarah Burns, David McMahon, Ken Burns

119 minutes

This documentary recounts the story of the five young men who were exonerated in Dec 2002 of the rape of the Central Park Jogger in 1989. The story follows the case chronologically. The first 40 minutes set the scene, cover the events of the crime itself and that lead up to the arraignment of Antron, Kevin, Ray, Yusef, and Korey. The next 50 minutes follow the story through the trials that led to them getting thrown in prison. The last 30 minutes are about their time in prison and how it is that they came to be released and have their convictions overturned. 

All five men, in their mid to late 30s at the time the documentary was made, participate in the documentary. There is lots of video and photographs of them from 1989 and 1990. All but Antron appear on camera at the time the documentary was being made.

There are a few reporters, lawyers, and other experts who were interviewed on camera as part of the documentary. The New York Police Department did not participate. The movie was made before New York City settled with the Exonerated Five. It wasn't until 2014 that the city settled with the five men. It never admitted that the case was handled badly.

This is the story from the perspective of the five. The police did not participate. The movie feels lopsided in that respect. There was a lot done to vilify these men before they went to prison. There isn't a preponderance of that negative energy in this movie. On one level it feels like a good things but on another level it feels like something is missing.

This probably would have hit me harder if I had not recently watched When They See Us. There isn't very much information in this documentary that isn't in the mini-series. There is no comparison between the two programs. The mini-series is much more emotionally moving and narratively strong than the documentary.

I'm not sorry I watched this documentary. I was hoping it would shed more light on the story than it did. I was hoping that there would be some aspect of the story that wasn't touched on by the mini-series but there was not.