The Newburgh Sting

I must say to my jaded and cynical eye in the dark depths of 2020 this seems like the norm, a Goverment, Obama's government no less, ploy to coerce these poverty stricken individuals into commit a massive terrorist act.

The doc. only shows us one side to it all and is not that engaging or engrossing i have to say. I didnt really come away feeling like i knew the men well or that i had a strong feeling either way. What was interesting was the lengths and scale of how bare faced the feds concocted all of this and the frankly ridiculous and see-through nature of it but still it plays out to their benefit. Sad.

Premiering at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival in April, this HBO-distributed documentary details the backgrounds of four men that the Federal Bureau of Investigation tied to the 2009 Bronx terrorism plot. Pieced together mainly through hours of unreleased footage that was recorded by Shaheed Hussain, a Pakistani businessman working as an FBI informant; interviewees include family members of the accused, as well as the local Newburgh Muslim community. A troubling, enraging and brilliant examination of entrapment (whether or not you believe that is what actually happened). It is inevitable that this documentary will lean in favor of the defendants, as this type of subject is difficult to be neutral when the media's portrayal of the accused has been anything but "innocent until proved guilty".

***½ (out of four)