LA 92

This gives some quick background starting with the '65 Watts riots. There is political background. Once we get to Rodney King and Mrs Du's killing of Latasha Harlins, the riot starts to build. It is a lot of the old footage stitched together. It does mean the quality is lower with plenty of shaky camera work. However, it does give a relatively full accounting of the events and delivers the immediacy of the moment. The emotional climax is Rodney King's pleading news conference. This is a solid documentary of that time and the riot.

I thought the film was overly ambitious. They started w @ 2000 hrs of raw footage and edited in 9 months. There's no explanation or understanding of govt or police strategy (or lack thereof). It would work better as a series. The old vhs footage is hard to watch on the big screen. Compared w Ken Burns series on Vietnam, it's a poor second- although not a fair comparison (Burns worked for years and added contemporary interviews and @ 10+ hours). We are informed at one point that there were over 900 fires during the riots but are never shown where and when (a map with all the fires would have been good here). There is no information about grassroots or cooperative efforts by the community leaders. We don't see any community leaders interacting with police or government officials, although there must have been some meetings & conferences. We do see Maxine Waters calm a crowd but nothing about how the crowd was gathered - same with a group of peaceful Korean protesters. There had to be organizations that coordinated these demonstrations but there is no information regarding that. Overall, a muddled, well-intentioned effort to discuss an ugly incident.

Simply using existing footage and avoiding any talking heads, this weaves a tale of how an incident incited violence in a community, what happened, and how nothing was really changed. I can't praise this enough for just letting images tell the story, never getting heavy handed with "experts." SEE THIS.

I will choose a different angle for my review. First off, this documentary was brilliant. The footage is astounding and the editing is flawless. Major props to the subtle but powerful score. My one major issue is this.

The Rodney King beaters were disgusting. Not only for their crimes but their smugness during the trial. The footage was awful and exposed a larger cultural departmental problem. Racial tensions were already bubbling and that verdict blew the lid open. We see the Black Caucus, black leaders, LA's mayor, numerous politicians all denounce the police's actions and their displeasure with the verdict..and then come the riots...

I have yet to see one piece of work condemn the looters, murderers and criminals that took to the streets of LA. This was not Maxine Waters or truly oppressed folks. These were savages. And we only hear a half hearted speech from the LA mayor about how nobody wants violence. Where was the outrage from these public figures and condemnation for these heinous acts? What the Korean store owners went through was nothing short of hate crimes. You could tell that the older folks in LA wanted no part of these riots. One of The most heartbreaking parts of this doc was the older store owner pleading to the streets about how he grew up in the ghetto too and wondering why they looted and destroyed his store.

Now, this documentary made a point to let the footage speak for itself but I can't help but get the feeling that it implies the same point that every other LA riots doc does. That the riots were somehow justified. And that is a grossly irresponsible point of view in my opinion.

With that said, this is an amazing work. Highly reccomended.

Brings so much perspective into today's ongoing issues & how as a society American will sadly never change Phenomenal footage Depicting the raw senseless and horrific actions and outcomes of Rodney King beating & the apocalyptic aftermath that followed. Don't mistKe this for a movie , this is feet on the ground first person perspective footage that captures the destruction of communities by the communities. Hard to comprehend what I just watched, yet educated me immensely on why the current situation is as it is. A must watch for anyone remotely questioning why we are where we are today