The Central Park Five

A sober, slow-building documentary that lets injustice and grief accumulate, leaving you angry and heartbroken long after it ends.

Directed by

David McMahon, Ken Burns

Genres

Documentary

Starring

Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam

Overview

In 1989, five black and Latino teenagers from Harlem were arrested and later convicted of raping a white woman in New York City's Central Park. They spent between 6 and 13 years in prison before a serial rapist confessed that he alone had committed the crime, leading to their convictions being overturned. Set against a backdrop of a decaying city beset by violence and racial tension, this is the story of that horrific crime, the rush to judgment by the police, a media clamoring for sensational stories and an outraged public, and the five lives upended by this miscarriage of justice.

How it feels

Dark, bleak, tense and earnest. Measured and needs your attention.

About

Justice, race, corruption, trauma

Content

Mild violence, sexual content and language. No gore.

Note

Written by AI, so it can be wrong. Full breakdown

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Watch the trailer on YouTube (opens in a new tab)