Watch The Central Park Five For Free

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Excellent, a Must See

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The "Central Park Five" documentary by Ken and Sarah Burns, and David McMahon invite viewers to see the side of five once young black men that were falsely accused of a rape that caused them to do thirteen to fifteen years of time in jail. We hear from lawyers, journalist, the men themselves, and more through interviews about their take on this life- changing situation.This documentary was so eye opening and most likely one of my favorites, directors did a great job with the visuals. They didn't lack a thing when it came to helping the viewers get a better image of the time period and event. There were visuals of headlines and old news recordings even visuals of the young men being questioned by detectives. This documentary touched me and I'm sure it touched others especially those of minorities. This gave the five men a chance to finally speak up and be heard. For many years the media and society due to the system giving them an image of who they weren't bashed these men. This documentary holds so much emotion from sadness to anger, as you listen to their experience of how much they lost. One thing I noticed, you will not sense any type of anger from the men themselves but more of sadness. I'd recommend that everyone should take the time to watch this, not just people of color. I will say that I did think this documentary was toward the people of minority. Being a person of color, especially during the past few years, it's been an issue that people of color feel mistreated by the system. But, I feel everyone should see this and take it in that this issue of the system did exist and should know it's still current.

A very well made documentary. It chronicles the entire event from the innocent youths being rounded up by the corrupt New York cops or prosecutor, to the mens' exoneration and beyond. It was well put together and the footage and newspaper articles were clearly represented. The victim interviews show them for what they are - innocent kids used as scapegoats and forced into confession for a crime they did not commit. The sense of injustice abounds, especially when the crooks in suits knew they had the wrong people, but went ahead with it anyway. It leaves one feeling angered and somewhat helpless, that you cannot defeat an enemy like the corrupt American justice system - especially when the system is proved wrong but refuses to show remorse or make amends, as so often happens (varies by state). The documentary leaves the city of New York as a city of shame, one where justice is corrupt, especially for blacks and Hispanics. I was left feeling that they could happily put a bullet in the head of the prosecutor and the cops as payment for their services rendered - but these men are more decent human beings than any of the prosecutor and the corrupt police, the media and anyone else who treated them as rapist monsters. Unfortunately, no compensation has been paid to any of the victims as the City of New York does its utmost to ensure justice will not be done. It needs to protect its wallet and the phony reputation of New York's "finest". I doubt I will ever want to visit New York, the city 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.

As someone who lived in New York at the time, this was a big story at the time and it has resonated through the years as a miscarriage of justice. Told at a languid pace, Social Psychologist Saul Kassin is probably the best thing about the film, as he explains why certain things were done and said (and intimated). What is less understood is the incredulity of some of the former defendants that they were accused of the crime and that they were interrogated for so long. This is standard police procedure to "break down" a suspect until they confess. And, they did confess. While these confessions turned out to be lies/fantasy, the film is trying to blame the police for this (their confessions were videotaped). Wrong place at the wrong time, and that is sad. The film is not bad, but it seems to be almost like it was done in a myopic manner, way too one sided. Of course the police etc declined to comment, but that makes the film a lot less effective. Also, and it has to be said, re-visiting this case brings back bad memories for everyone. So, if you did not know about the case, it is somewhat interesting, but if you were in New York then, its like looking at a documentary of the Bernie Goetz subway shooting in 1984. Its still a tough thing to revisit.