'The Central Park Five' is a must-see documentary

Thank you, PBS. Tonight, I finally watched The Central Park Five, the 2012 documentary that chronicles the case of five young black and Latino men wrongfully convicted in the Central Park jogger rape and beating back in 1989. I remember more than 10 years ago, when these men were finally exonerated, thinking "How could this happen?" Now I know. And I'm disgusted.

I'm always down for any Ken Burns documentary, but I was particularly interested in this one, a story he told with the help of his daughter, Sarah Burns. Sarah wrote the book that The Central Park Five film is based on. I'm going to get it tomorrow, hopefully, because I guess I want to stay furious for a little longer.

See this documentary. It is important that you see this film. All of us need to recognize the terrible injustice that was done to these young men so many years ago. Because of the gross ineptitude of the police and investigators in New York City, five teens served years behind bars for something they didn't do. They "confessed" only after being broken down during interrogations. Now, they've lost such a chunk of their lives that even though their names are cleared, some of them are having big trouble moving on.

The city of New York owes these five men, though money, even if they are given retribution, will certainly never replace what's been taken from them.

The Central Park Five is two hours of riveting storytelling, not by a narrator, but by those directly involved. The journalists who covered the case also give their opinions, noting that they too failed these men. Why? Because while in 1990, when the teens were convicted and sentenced, they turned them into monsters with a "wolf pack" mentality. Then, when the truth finally came to light, they did not give the story the front page headlines it so deserved.

If you enjoy Ken Burns' work, and you have any interest at all in a true story of absolute injustice, see The Central Park Five. If you want a perfect picture of what life in NYC was like in 1989, when these young men were convicted because crime was rampant and the police/prosecutors needed that conviction (even though there was doubt), see this movie.

Above all, see The Central Park Five so you can be shocked and appalled at just how inept the criminal justice system can truly be.

Sometimes, NYC, true bravery also means admitting when you were wrong. Very, very wrong.

Photo courtesy of The New York Times