THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE
In 1989, five black and Latino teenagers were arrested and charged for brutally attacking and raping a white female jogger in Central Park. News media swarmed the case, calling it “the crime of the century.” But the truth about what really happened didn’t become clear until after the five had spent years in prison for a crime they didn’t commit. With THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE, this story of injustice finally gets the telling it deserves. Based on Sarah Burns’ best-selling book and co-directed by her husband David McMahon and father, the beloved doc filmmaker Ken Burns, this incendiary film tells the riveting tale of innocent young men scapegoated for a heinous crime, and serves as a mirror for our times.
“Measured in tone and outraged in its argument, it is an emotionally stirring .... cinematic call to witness.”
-Manohla Dargis, NEW YORK TIMES
“Careful, thoughtful and devastating.”
Kenneth Turan, LOS ANGELES TIMES
“A harrowing piece of investigative work.”
Joe Morgenstern, WALL STREET JOURNAL
“INFURIATING... A CONCISE, INFORMATIVE AND UPSETTING CHRONICLE OF A CRIME.”
-A.O. Scott, NEW YORK TIMES
“It’s a troubling film, but it’s well done and thought-provoking.”
-Linda Holmes, NPR
Directed by Ken Burns and Sarah Burns. Unrated.
USA, 2012, Digital Projection, 120minutes, Color, English.