When They See Us

The emotional weight of Duvernay’s respect for the physical and emotional facts settled slowly in your stomach. You wanted to cheer when the wrongful convictions were vacated. But the sight of the now grown men returning to their childhood bedrooms hollowed the triumph.

The emotional roller coaster never lets up, careening from rage and sorrow to horror in director-cowriter Ava DuVernay's shattering four-part dramatization of the infamous Central Park Five case. ... A flawless cast. [27 May - 9 Jun 2019, p.13]

Perhaps because DuVernay, a co-writer here as well as the sole director, has experience both in documentary and drama, it works much better than such projects often do. A human story teased from history, it is personal and political, inextricably and in equal measure. ... All [of the actor playing the five] are exceptional.

Elegant, wrenching four-part reenactment of the Central Park Five saga. ... [Ava DuVernay] never reduces her subjects—five real, live, now-middle-aged men—to statistics or types. (The lawyers are generic by contrast.)

Each episode has its own most-valuable players either in front of or behind the camera, but the entire series is elevated by the two sets of actors who embody the Central Park Five. ... Taken as a whole, there’s a lot to recommend “When They See Us.” It does as much as it can to recast the gaze on Black and brown people, eliciting empathy and the desire for justice. It demonizes the right people and demands your fury over the events presented.

Tough to watch, but an effective — and often powerful — indictment.

When They See Us is a handsomely mounted dramatization of the plight of these boys, of what was taken away from them due to their being targets of systemic racism. ... As a piece of narrative storytelling, though, the series hits its thematic targets with such repetition at such close range that you begin to question the point of dragging this exercise to over four hours.

Honest-Yan is off base. To this day, even after the boys were exonerated and the show was out, Trump has doubled down on his statements. He is not now "clearly unaware that the five boys were later to be found innocent." This show is a really hard watch, but the casting is great and the performances are powerful.

Brilliantly done. It is hard hitting and gut wrenching as you follow the horrific journey of these 5 boys. Shocking, emotional and something everybody should watch.

Incredible heart wrenching series that stays in your mind days after you have finished watching it. Hard to watch at times. A story of racism, and being Black in America and how these issues are still with us.

This is a dramatized and fictionalized account of five cases of false imprisonment. It is harrowing and unpleasant to watch. As a drama and a piece of fiction, it is quite well made. What made me uncomfortable was the shoehorning in of references to Donald Trump, who was clearly unaware that the five boys were to be later found innocent of the crimes they had confessed to. In response to a violent crime epidemic Trump called for harsher sentencing, the death penalty, and more police. Although I do not agree with the death penalty, this seems like a Trump was reflecting the views of many fearful Americans wanting to help to stop the epidemic of terrible crimes striking New York such as this brutal **** in a public park. This TV show should not be about Donald Trump. The problem with this TV show is that it has a clear political agenda that guides its loose relationship with real life events. The actors did a fine job of portraying themselves as the most sheltered and innocently naive children ever to be allowed to walk freely in one of the most dangerous **** and murder capitals of the world. Personally I wish they were portrayed more realistically as most teenagers from all walks of life are more rebellious than the children depicted in this show. Having watched the four episodes, I am left believing that many African Americans have, in the past, been treated unfairly by the legal system and the police, but I already thought that. I also feel like I need to research what really happened, because it is clear that this TV show is more interested in influencing future elections and spinning socio-political myths than exploring any kind of truth. This insincerity undermines the TV show's whole endeavor.

This is basically fiction. They made these boys look like martyrs. Fact is they didn't do actual penetration **** but they did hold the jogger down while she was being ****. One of the boys dry humped her and ejaculated in his pants. Horrible people that Duvernay fictionalized for the purpose or trying to make Trump look bad. All should be in jail not praised. Try to find some real content on this subject and most has been erased from Google. If you like fiction watch it. It's garbage propaganda. 0 stars