Attica

A forthright indictment of the institutional racism and human rights abuses in the American penal system at the time.

Traci A. Curry and Stanley Nelson's Attica utterly devastated me.

Nelson has made a career of fixing our gaze, however strong the impulse is to avert it.

It's a worthy - and sadly timely - remembrance of a singular event whose ghosts continue to haunt us.

Extraordinary archival footage... You can't just dismissive it as hyperbole.

Nelson's film cries out anew for prison reform while exposing America's deep roots of racism entrenched in the corridors of politicians, police and prisons.

This is an unblinking look at the upstate 1971 New York massacre...

Attica opens another door. This documentary is the rifle held by Sonny [Al Pacino, Dog Day Afternoon, 1975]. [Full review in Spanish]

It may not break new ground in terms of documentary filmmaking style, but "Attica" successfully brings an under-discussed historical event to modern audiences in a way that subtly highlights its parallels with the current day.

Attica brings us back to a moment in time that continues to resonate by capturing the people, politics, emotions and tragedy serving as a wake-up call for prison reform and a reminder of the responsibilities of justice.