PBS has officially announced and detailed the Blu-ray release of award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns' The Central Park Five. The film chronicles the Central Park Jogger case, for the first time from the perspective of the five teenagers whose lives were upended by this miscarriage of justice, and streets on April 23rd.
Program Synopsis: On April 20, 1989, the body of a woman barely clinging to life was discovered in Central Park. Within days, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise confessed to her rape and beating after many hours of aggressive interrogation at the hands of seasoned homicide detectives. The police announced to a press hungry for sensational crime stories that the young men had been part of a gang of teenagers who were out "wilding," assaulting joggers and bicyclists in Central Park that evening. The ensuing media frenzy was met with a public outcry for justice. The young men were tried as adults and convicted of rape, despite inconsistent and inaccurate confessions, DNA evidence that excluded them, and no eyewitness accounts that connected any of them to the victim. The five served their complete sentences, between 6 and 13 years, before another man, serial rapist Matias Reyes, admitted to the crime, and DNA testing supported his confession. Set against the backdrop of a city beset by violence and facing deepening rifts between races and classes, The Central Park Five intertwines the stories of these five young men, the victim, police officers and prosecutors, and Matias Reyes, unraveling the forces behind the wrongful convictions. The film illuminates how law enforcement, social institutions and media undermined the very rights of the individuals they were designed to safeguard and protect.
"This is a radical departure for me as a filmmaker," said Ken Burns. "Eschewing narration, bringing in many new stylistic elements – I think the intensity of the circumstances, and the political and tragic implications absolutely demanded that we implement an intensified discussion. What I think adds to our story is the humanity of the five young men who are at its center, especially because no one was willing to do that during the original media coverage and trial."
"This case is a lens through which we can understand the ongoing fault-line of race in America," said producer Sarah Burns, who also wrote The Central Park Five: A Chronicle of a City Wilding. "These young men were convicted long before the trial, by a city blinded by fear and, equally, freighted by race. They were convicted because it was all too easy for people to see them as violent criminals simply because of the color of their skin."
"Ultimately The Central Park Five is about human dignity," said producer David McMahon. "It is about five young men who lose their youth but maintain their dignity in the face of an horrific and unimaginable situation."
In 2002, based upon Matias Reyes's confession, a judge vacated the original convictions of the Central Park Five. A year later, the men filed civil lawsuits against the City of New York, and the police officers and prosecutors who had worked toward their conviction. That lawsuit remains unresolved. Among those interviewed in the film are: The Central Park Five and members of their families; New York City Mayors Ed Koch and David Dinkins; journalists Jim Dwyer, Natalie Byfield and LynNell Hancock; the Reverend Calvin Butts; and historian Craig Steven Wilder.
The Central Park Five is a film by Ken Burns, David McMahon and Sarah Burns; edited by Michael Levine; cinematography by Buddy Squires with Anthony Savini; original music by Doug Wamble. Funding for the film was provided by The Atlantic Philanthropies, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, The Better Angels Society and Bobby and Polly Stein, and PBS.
I saw this on PBS. It does a great job of covering an ugly bit of injustice. I strongly recommend it for those interested in what can go wrong in the legal system.
It's refreshing to occasionally see something billed as a documentary that's actually a documentary rather than the slanted, politically motivated propaganda we've seen over the years.
"This is a radical departure for me as a filmmaker," said Ken Burns. Not really. White guilt is one of the primary themes of your career.
This is racist propaganda, skewed to abase whitey! If the crime this documentary concerns itself with had been the other way around, skin color-wise--and it does happen, we just don't hear about it--this documentary would be attacked and labeled as being Anti-Semitic within seconds of its release to the public! I refuse to let the media or Hollywood control the way I think. As a matter of fact, I make it a point to NOT believe the media the vast majority of the time. They're evasive liars and deleterious snakes!
@Boothill: Although I don't see Burns making a documentary about the Wichita Massacre anytime soon I'm not sure I'd call this propaganda. (IMO Frontline's "The Confessions" does an even better job with the legal issues addressed here but without the racist undertones.) And Burns is not employing mind control here; you're free to think what you like. Even an racist shitkicker could learn something watching this.
@dj_intrepid: Another liberal prick opening up his brainwashed mind and spewing out more bullshit! There was no need for you to attack me, jerk! Why don't we discuss it, like my friend, repete66211, did, without the childish criticism.
@repete66211: I will definitely check out the "The Confessions." I'm just getting a little sick of the Fuck Whitey/Poor Blacky crap! This country has done more for the black population than any other country ... ever!
"This country has done more for the black population than any other country ... ever" Seriously? I guess you don't consider all you're "doing" doesn't even begin to pay back what you did in the past 2 centuries...
