Free Chol Soo Lee

In its clear-eyed empathy for the totality of life, “Free Chol Soo Lee” is only deepened by not ignoring what happens when the spotlight fades on a righted wrong...

There’s an entire history of political representation to confront here, in other words, and even when Free Chol Soo Lee doesn’t seem to be taking this problem on in a direct way, the movie’s self-aware deviations from the norm are pronounced.

[An] impressive and wrenchingly sad documentary...

The taut film takes us through the story with great economy.

The film captures the activist spirit of the 1970s-1980s and the many characters involved in Lee’s story, while refraining from any kind of hagiography of its central character.

What makes the film so engrossing is how much attention the film-makers give to Lee’s complicated life after prison...

What “Free Chol Soo Lee” lacks in terms of earlier material, it more than compensates for in revealing this underseen historical movement.

Beyond the conscientious and dogmatic spirit, Free Chol Soo Lee is a sociopolitical documentary that digs into yesterday to find the footprints that still have an effect today. [Full review in Spanish]

[Ha and Yi] instead tell their story with sober details, having amassed fascinating archival footage of the man, his family and the media storm that surrounded him.

The filmmakers never lose sight of the importance of the mass mobilization of ordinary Asian Americans. In the archived footage, the numbers of protestors increased over time, as well as their passion.