Crime Americano, Um

I was 13, living in an affluent New England town, and totally oblivious to Los Angeles in 1992 (beyond my life-long cinema obsession). Looking back, the LA Riots influenced America (the music, the election, film, our language, our style, and our acceptance or rejection of diversity) more than any other event in the 1990's. Even having lived in LA for a few years (only about a decade later), I never really understood the impact of the riots on that city until I saw this. The style of this doc is 'manipulation' but, if you can get pasts some of its tasteless pandering, seeing this footage (chronologically shown in the film), was absolutely eye-opening. I never really experienced racism until I moved to Los Angeles in my 20's and there really was a feeling that I could only liken to the friction that causes earthquakes (coincidentally) within the culture of that city; it's a bloody mess of ambition, failure, inequality, and segregation (racial & financial). The film sets up the social climate with the Watts riots (which, oddly, I feel more informed about) and all but suggests that we're due for another social catastrophe and, by all accounts, I can't say that I disagree.

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.

This documentary does an extraordinary job at depicting the events that unfolded in south Los Angeles in 1992 through the use of compelling 'raw' footage from the event itself. It also accurately shows the connection to past similar events that led to the L.A riots in 1992, and its use of symbolic historical footage creates a powerful and striking analysis that is hard to forget.

After watching this it was hard to believe that this ACTUALLY happened. This was in the United States! With today's current political and racial climate it seems like all the old problems are as big as ever. Sooner or later something has to give.

National Geographic never seems to dissapoint in their movies. I enjoyed watching this, it was quickly paced and very informative. As someone who grew up and watched this happening on TV it didn't bother me how it was all shot and seemed to be view on a VCR.

Would totally recommend this movie for anyone who loves National Geographic or wants to learn more about the LA riots.

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.