Indeed, you'll watch "When They See Us," director Ava DuVernay's new Netflix miniseries, in appalled disbelief and open-mouthed horror. That may sound like a warning. It's actually a recommendation.
DuVernay tells the story of the so-called Central Park 5, four of them black, one Hispanic, who were convicted of the brutal 1989 rape and assault of a white woman jogger. It is an unsparing re-creation of an ugly time.
Halting and confused, the boys struggle to describe a crime they did not commit in order to stop police officers from yelling at them and smacking them around.