"Baltimore Rising" (2017 release; 95 min.) is a documentary about the rioting and looting which shook Baltimore following the arrest and subsequent death of Freddy Gray in curious/suspect conditions, and how the city tries to move beyond this. As the movie opens, we are introduced to a blighted neighborhood: "it's not the riots that caused this, it's the condition of the community that caused the riots", comments a Baltimore city council member. We then revisit the event of April, 2015.
Couple of comments: this is the latest film from actor-director Sonja Sohn (herself African-American). The initial part of the documentary, focusing on the events in April-May of 2015, are the hardest to watch, as there is so much senseless violence and pent-up anger and frustration in the African-American community, you can;t help but shake your head as you are watching it. Also, did you know that 3 of the 6 accused police officers are African-American? The movie finds its best footing in the aftermath. The Baltimore police reaches out to various leaders in the African-American community as the city awaits the trials of the police officers involved in the Freddy Gray events and the new police chief is desperate to avoid further rioting and looting, no matter what the outcome of the trials. A picture emerges of a segment in the African-American community that is eager to move forward and hence prepared to work with the police. "What can I do for you?", the police chief asks. "Jobs, bring us jobs", is the unanimous answer. Then there is another segment with the African-American community that will never be happy with anything, and instead looks at the rioting and looting as their "right" to protest. There are some startling moments in the film. Let me give you one example: at a certain point one of the social activists hands up a banner that reads 'BALTIMORE RISING" and one of the cops comes up and says "you have to take that banner down". When the activist asks: what law does this banner break", the cop is stumped and eventually mumbles "I don't know" (but the banner is still coming down), wow.
"Baltimore Rising" recently premiered as part of the HBO Documentary series, and I caught it the other day at HBO on Demand. While this documentary certainly isn't without flaws (it rambles a bit too much for its own good), I learned a thing or two from watching this documentary, and that's always a good thing. "Baltimore Rising" is worth checking out.
