Review of The Central Park Five (2012) by Noahglanville — 13 Oct 2014

Central Park Five is documentary based on the true story about a case of rape and assault that occurred in Central Park, New York city. It shows how the police investigation was not completed correctly and how five boys were falsely convicted and sentenced to time in prison. The boys were interviewed and talk about what they went through and how badly they were treated, NYPD was asked to comment and or talk about the case but there was no comment. The fact that the police department had no comment shows that even they knew that the situation was not dealt with in the right way. The documentary does a very good job portraying the time period and what it was like to live in New York during the 1980’s and how racism affected the city. The film is not just an informative movie about the case; it goes into in depth problems that were very prominent during that time and still continue today. It discusses how racism was a contributing factor to the conviction of the boys.

This documentary is very moving and as I learned the stories of the five boys I began to become emotionally attached and feel very empathetic towards them. One aspect of the film that is shown very well is the deception and deceitfulness of the police that are investigating the boys. The interrogators persuade the suspects that they were guilty; they twisted words and coerced the boys into confessing to the crime. The archived police video clips of the boys confessing make it clear that they do not have their stories straight and they have no idea what they are admitting to. Overall I liked the documentary and thought it was very intriguing and it captivated me entirely.