The Central Park Five (2012)

 

 

 

The Central Park Five is a documentary film which premiered in 2012. It is about five young men and a case of wrongful conviction which took place in New York City in 1990.

 

Here is some basic information about this film:

 

** Written, produced, and directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns & David McMahon

** Production Company: Florentine Films

** Run time: 119 minutes

 

Here is some basic information about the case:

 

On 19 April 1989, a young woman was brutally attacked while jogging in Central Park. She survived, but when she woke up, she could not remember anything about the attack. She was unable to identify the person or persons who had attacked her.

 

Before long, five young men were arrested and charged with committing this crime. The case got a lot of publicity, because the victim was a white woman, while the suspects were coloured (four blacks and one Hispanic). In 1990, these five teenagers – known as the Central Park Five – were tried in a court of law where they were found guilty.

 

Four of them were tried as juveniles. The sentence was 5-10 years in prison. The fifth defendant was tried as an adult. His sentence was 5-15 years in prison.

 

The Central Park Five claimed they were innocent.

 

In 2002 the real perpetrator (Matias Reyes) confessed to the crime. At the time he was in prison for another crime. His confession was true: he knew details about the crime that only the attacker could know. Moreover, when DNA evidence from the case was tested, it was confirmed that it came from him.

 

In 2002, four of the five young men had already been released after serving six years in prison for a crime they did not do. But the fifth person, who had been tried as an adult, was still inside. He was released after serving 12 years in prison for a crime he did not do. 

 

In 2002, all five convictions from 1990 were vacated. 

 

The Central Park Five were exonerated.

 

Now a few words about the directors:

 

Ken Burns is a well-known film-maker who has made films about US history and other American topics for many years. Here are some of the topics that he has covered in his films:

 

** The American Civil War

** The Vietnam War

** Prohibition

** Baseball

 

For this project about the Central Park Five, he worked with his daughter Sarah and her husband David.

 

The film-makers interviewed the Central Park Five. Four of them are seen and heard. The fifth person did not wish to be seen; he is only heard. The film-makers also interviewed some family members.

 

Three expert witnesses appear several times:

 

** A reporter: Jim Dwyer – New York Times

** A historian: Craig Steven Wilder – MIT

** A social psychologist: Saul Kassin – John Jay College of Criminal Justice

 

What do reviewers say about this film? Here are the results of three review aggregators:

 

** 77 per cent = IMDb

** 79 per cent = Meta

** 86 per cent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)

** 93 per cent = Rotten Tomatoes (the critics)

 

As you can see, the ratings are quite good. I am not surprised. Ken Burns is a professional film-maker whose films always get good ratings. However, in this case, I think the ratings on Rotten Tomatoes are too high, while the ratings on IMDb and Meta are more appropriate.

 

The case is important, but I am a bit disappointed with the film about the case. There is no narrator. Instead an on-screen message appears from time to time. This is not a good idea.

 

In addition, the structure of the film is unfortunate. The material is not well-organized.

 

As mentioned above, the film runs for almost two hours, but the film-makers use almost one hour on events which happened in 1989 and 1990. Only after one hour has passed, do they begin to show us that this is a case of wrongful conviction. Why does it take them so long to get to the main point?

 

There are three basic arguments:

 

(1) The police did not have any physical evidence that connected the five suspects to the crime or the location where the attack took place.

 

There was some DNA evidence, which was something new at the time, but when this evidence was tested it was confirmed that it did not come from any of the five teenagers.

 

The DNA evidence excluded them!

 

(2) The teenagers had an alibi. When the attack took place, they were in another part of Central Park.

 

The alibis were ignored!

 

(3) The police did not have any eyewitnesses who claimed to have seen the five teenagers committing the crime.

 

Even if they did, it is well-documented that eyewitness identification is highly unreliable!

 

To the police, these significant facts did not matter, because they had five confessions. However, these confessions were false, because they were made under duress. After more than 24 hours of interrogation with no food and water - and with no lawyer present - the five teenagers were ready to confess to anything, just to get out of the room.

 

A detailed comparison of the five confessions shows that they do not even match each other. Who did what? And when? Details regarding these questions are conflicting. Clearly, there is something wrong with these confessions. 

 

Unfortunately, a detailed examination of the confessions was not made until 2002, when the real perpetrator came forward and made his confession.

 

In this case, the American criminal justice system did not work as it should. It did not produce justice. Five teenagers were arrested and charged; later they were tried in a court of law where they were found guilty of a crime they did not commit. The charges and the convictions were based on false confessions, while any evidence which suggested or proved their innocence was ignored.

 

Having watched this film, I have to ask: how often does something like this happen? How many wrongful convictions are there? How many have been discovered? How many have not yet been discovered?

 

This film is an important document about an important case. But as you can see, it has a flaw. I have to remove one star because of this flaw. And therefore I think it deserves a rating of four stars.

 

PS # 1. The Central Park Five by Sarah Burns is the official companion book (published in 2012).

 

PS # 2. For information about false confessions, see the following books:

 

** True Stories about False Confessions edited by Rob Warden & Steven A. Drizin (2009)

** How the Police Generate False Confessions: An Inside Look at the Interrogation Room by James L. Trainum (2016)

 

PS # 3. When They See Us is a miniseries in four parts which premiered on Netflix in 2019. The topic is the case of the Central Park Five.

 

*****

 

 

 Ken Burns (born 1953)

*****

 

 

 

 Less than two weeks after the incident in April 1989, 

this comment was posted in the local papers.

The ad was paid by Donald Trump.

 

*****