Considering the fact that Ken Burns is a well-known, respected documentary filmmaker, it’s easy to believe that this is his solo project. But he’s actually more helping out his daughter Sarah and her husband David, lending them his expertise – and the results are gripping. This is the story of the brutal 1989 rape of a 28-year-old white jogger in Central Park that nearly killed her and the teenage Black kids who were sent to prison for it; it took many years before the real rapist was exposed. The case became the culmination of New York City’s crime problem at the time, and also said plenty about class and race in America. All of this is put into perspective in the film thanks to interviews with the five men, as well as insightful comments from various writers and academics.
2012-U.S. 119 min. Color-B/W. Produced, written and directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, David McMahon.
Trivia: The case was also chronicled in the miniseries When They See Us (2019).
Last word: “Our film is solely about the events from April 19th, 1989 to the vacation of the convictions in December of 2002. But this is something that has ramifications for lives and families of the people involved and for the city of New York. You want healing, not just for the officials, not just for the five, but for the whole city. This has been a festering wound for way, way too long, and we hope that in some ways the film can be an agency of that healing.” (Ken Burns, Collider)
