Review of The Central Park Five (2012) by Najheri S — 15 Mar 2015

The Central Park Five was fascinatingly infuriating because it shows just how influential the media can be on a case. In a time where Central Park was considered a place of peace in a schizophrenic city, the case of the Central Park Jogger became a cause of great concern to the public and consequently, a test of the police force.

The NYPD was under a great deal of pressure to catch the person responsible for this terrible crime. The massive public pressure caused the police to virtually discard not only their code of ethics as authorities, but morality as people as well, leading them to coax false confessions out of the five teens.

This case shed an awful light on all of the authorities involved from the police and prosecutors, to the politicians and the media. Each of the people involved seem to have been so intent on retribution that they lost their sense of compassion and rationality.

The police and prosecutors coerced false confessions from the teens and dismissed all other evidence; the media took advantage of the public's desire for a convicted person and didn't ask the necessary questions when the facts were contradictory; it was also shown that Ed Koch, the mayor of New York City at the time, had declared the teens guilty before they were even convicted.

There were parts of the confessions where I find it difficult that anyone could've actually believed them to be true. Not only did all of the confessions contradict each other, but also Korey Wise's confession tape especially comes to mind as unbelievable.

It was as if he was being fed lines to say and then when he was shown the picture of Trisha Meili's beaten face, the sound of shock that Wise emits doesn't make sense for someone who allegedly watched the event occur.

I think the film is compelling because this time the audience gets to see the case from the perspective of the wrongfully accused, whereas it was previously portrayed solely by the media. By the end of the film I felt angry and unprotected, because if the people that are responsible for my protection are only interested in protecting themselves, there is no way to overcome an adversary as fierce as the corrupt American justice system.

This is especially clear when the system is proven wrong, but refuses to show contrition for the wrongful actions or to make amends for said actions, as was the case of the Central Park Five.