GamerTab
That was an excellent one.
MamaGravity
good back-story, and good acting
Fairaher
The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
Juana
what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
nadiatownshend
The documentary is flawless in its retelling and the editing of the archival footage really places you in the midst of the moments captured - you almost feel like you are there.
Parts were incredibly hard to watch - specifically the footage of Reginald Denny, the truck driver being pulled from his truck...
But it is important to show the brutality and raw anger and frustrations that those few days entailed in order to educate people about the reasons behind the eruption of the riots in LA in '92.
From what I learnt from the documentary - the reasons behind the riots were far more intricate and complex than what was displayed on the news. It inspired me to read more about it and find out more about the people who were involved.
All in all probably one of the most fascinating, if not scarily real documentaries I have seen, which lays it all out factually using all original footage and doesn't hold back.
It's so sad that such a great city as LA, with all its diversity, exploded in that symphony of chaos and the archival footage shows that it really was a wake up call to the city to draw together. Furthermore the way the city came together in the wake of the violence in order to rebuild was really wonderful and when we think of the riots we don't necessarily think of those good deeds that happened in the aftermath, but the documentary importantly reminds us that in the end there is hope for society yet.
skbharman
A friend of mine asked me if I've seen this. "You must see it", he said, "I was on the edge of my seat the whole documentary". Figuratively, I of course assumed. But it wasn't figuratively.It was literally. Half-way through it I realized that my muscles were tense and my breath shallow, there could have been a riot going on outside without me noticing, because I was in the middle of the 1992 LA riots. This documentary is intense, it's frightening, it's scary, and all just by showing archive footage with some added music. It gives a perspective on what led to the riots, and it draws – sometimes eerie – comparisons to the Watts riots. I would argue that this is an important documentary. It's brutal, it's frightening, it's sad, it might make you nauseous, and it will probably make you think.It's extraordinary. Just... Just watch it.
David Massey
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.
Matt
Wow, raw unseen footage of one of the most captivating and horrific situation in cultural America. Racism in our country is one of the worst problems we have, and this is the quintessential example of what it can cause people to do who feel oppressed. It's sickening, and it has to stop, yet it never will. If I could say what I wanted to about the LAPD this review wouldn't be posted because every other word would start with F. And then, because of this, OJ got away with murder! Good job LAPD!