The Central Park Five

Marking a decided shift from Ken Burns's usual style (characterized by stately narration, nostalgic music, and slow camera pans across sepia photos), the famed filmmaker's latest is a gripping, true-crime (and injustice) contemporary documentary adapted from the book of the same title by Sarah Burns (his daughter). On April 19, 1989, a white woman jogger was brutally beaten and raped in New York's Central Park. Mayor Ed Koch vowed vengeance: a park dragnet put in custody five black and Latino young men who were conveniently accused of the monstrous crime. Strong-arm NYPD interrogations produced videotaped "confessions" from the teens (who only wanted to go home), while tabloid news trumpeted the instant myth of feral black "wolf packs" (which never happened). DNA evidence and an event-timeline failed to link the suspects to the rape, but all five of the accused, while proclaiming their innocence, were convicted. In 2002, a notorious serial rapist confessed to being the jogger's lone assailant, which his DNA and testimony proved. Yet NYC police, prosecutors, and media still defend actions that created a race-hate climate and the urban legend of "wilding” attacks. The five wronged men are interviewed here, although the jogger (who has since made her own book deal) is not, a minor omission in this excellent documentary that further explores America's terrible race pathologies. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)