The Central Park Five [Blu-ray]

4.5 stars... why did the innocent confess? Watch!
In late 2011, Sarah Burns published the "Central Park Five" book, and in late, 2012, the documentary based on this book, or perhaps more accurately stated, made in conjunction with this book, was released in the theatre (I saw it at the Landmark E Street Cinema in Washington DC about a month ago). This co-documentary is directed by the book's author as well as David McMahon and Ken Burns (yes, that Ken Burns).

"The Central Park Five" (120 min.) brings in excruciating (but riveting and enraging) details the background of the infamous "Central Park jogger" case of a woman who was savagely attacked, raped and left for dead while jogging in New York's Central Park in 1989. By coincidence that very same evening a bunch of black and latino 14 and 15 yr. old teenagers were hanging out in Central Park and pretty quickly the New York police rounded up a number of them, eventually causing 5 of them to admit to a crime they did not commit. This of course then goes to the very heart of...

Ken Burn's "The Central Park Five"
Ken Burns did a great job of reporting the facts surrounding this explosive case. The five teenagers accused and the victim were treated with care, and still yet the truth. This movie is worth seeing, as it is an example of rushing to judgement, an example racial tension, and an example of poor police. Thank God for Reyes finally stepping up to prove what an injustice, and still there has been no reconciliation in monetary compensation for the injustice. Again, I say that Ken Burns and others did an excellent job of reporting.

Powerful and Disturbing
In the early evening hours of April 19, 1988, a 28 year old investment banker named Trisha Meili was jogging in Central Park when she was attacked and brutally raped. Several suspects were brought in for questioning who described their activities that night as "wilding," slang for making mischief in the form of assault, robbery and general hooliganism in the park. With the young woman in a coma and not expected to live, the five Hispanic and black youths were quickly rounded up by a Police Department that was under pressure to find the hoodlums and bring the case to justice.

Adding fuel to the fire was Donald Trump, never missing a moment for self-promotion, put out full page ads in the major New York newspapers calling for a reinstituted death penalty. Former Mayor Ed Koch helped contaminate the jury pool by saying in front of the camera "we have to call them suspects" implying that it was a nicety applied to the guilty. Even the mainstream media jumped on the bandwagon...

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