DOCNYC Fest: Stories of false confessions in 'Central Park Five'

If there's anything the DOC NYC Festival drives home, it's how easy--and utterly damning--it can be to make a false confession. This year's selection, Central Park Five, talks about the famous Central Park Jogger case. In 1989, five black and Latino teens, all of whom confessed in some manner, were implicated in the rape and near-murder of a white investment banker. Thirteen years
later, the real rapist, who was imprisoned with one of the convicted, confessed after seeing how much the innocent man was suffering. Last year at the DOC NYC Fest, the documentary Scenes of a Crime followed a similar case. A black man was interrogated for ten hours before confessing that he shook his own baby to death. In reality, the baby probably died of sepsis--while he was being held by the police. As of two days ago, the Adrian Thomas case has hope. The documentary's website reports that New York's Court of Appeals will hear the case, which is extremely rare. "The Court’s eventual decision may affect more than Adrian Thomas: it could make precedent on police interrogation tactics, voluntariness of confessions and the use of courtroom experts on questions of false confession," they note. Years after the Central Park Five case, innocent people are still succumbing to police pressure and making false confessions, something that may change if the Thomas case wins its appeal.

Central Park Five, which was directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon, does not have the usual Ken Burns style--no pans or zooms on still images. However, it does have the patience characteristic of his movies. After opening with the confession of the real rapist, to leave no doubt in the viewers' minds, the directors spend several minutes laying out the atmosphere in New York City at the time: High crime, pockets of extremely impoverished areas, and a decaying, trash-ridden city. The case was a "proxy" for everything else going on in the city. The fact that black teens were being implicated for the rape of a white woman vaulted the case into the headlines, when other brutal rapes without perpetrators of different races were relegated to the back pages.

The Central Park Five were interrogated all night. The men explain they confessed because they were tired, scared, and they were told they could go home if only they could admit they were present at the woman's rape--with the implication being that they were just there, but they didn't do anything. Although parents were often absent at the initial confessions, they were present for their videotaped confessions. How could that be?  Many teens were arrested that night, since over two dozen went "wilding," participating in mischief that included throwing rocks and beating up joggers and homeless people. I wish the filmmakers had interviewed the other teens the police interviewed who were not persuaded to make a false confession. How were they able to see through the police's tactics? Perhaps including those stories would have made the viewers more likely to blame the teens for a mistake that cost them years of their lives, but it would have also illuminated the social psychology aspect of false confessions. Central Park Five is a stomach-knotting look at how false confessions and social prejudices locked up five innocent boys. I hope this movie can be used as instruction for those who are least likely to know their rights when arrested. For the adult fans of Ken Burns docs and indies who are most likely to see this doc, the story may serve as a different warning: that of caution and contemplation in the face of sordid headlines that confirm prejudices.

After the DOC NYC Fest, Central Park Five will open in New York City on November 23.