Attica

Some movies won't be on streaming forever. The Oscar-nominated documentary Attica is an example; Amazon Prime de-listed its free stream after yesterday. I tried watching it on Sling, a streaming service I didn't hear about till now, but it left after I streamed about 16 minutes. At least I remembered where I was when I picked it back up on XFinity. It's $9.99 mostly everywhere else. 

Let's talk about the film before I prattle on about streaming.

Stanley Nelson and Traci Curry chronicle the uprising at the Attica Correctional Facility from Sep. 9-13, 1971. Its numerous prisoners, overwhelmingly black or Latino, and understandably fed up with mistreatment, revolted against their all-White guards. Their demands, as voiced by spokesman L.D. Barkley, included basic human dignity not just for themselves, but prisoners everywhere. But Gov. Nelson Rockefeller sent the police and National Guard to take back the prison by force. That assault killed prisoners and hostages alike.

It's not an easy film to sit through. Former prisoners testify about getting a measly minimum of amenities and nothing else really. Any complaints about it made it worse. The San Quentin prison riot a few weeks earlier emboldened them. You can see the tension rise up to when the prisoners finally revolt. 

 Basic living conditions are bad enough, but the climactic assault cements the cruelty. In all seriousness, the prisoners getting shot up amidst commands of "put your hands up and you will not be harmed" make the cops sound like the Martians in Mars Attacks, only far less funny. The ceaseless gunfire on the soundtrack sells us on how disproportionate the assault was. Reporter John Johnson also testifies getting threatened by victorious cops on a kill-happy power trip. You'll shudder as the film shows how the guards reprised against their prisoners. 

You'll sympathize with the prisoners despite whatever deeds landed them in "the last place." None of them try to excuse their original crimes. They just wanted basic human rights in spite of them. Al Victory, a white prisoner, testifies of his shame of getting preferential treatment for himself and not just for others. William Quinn, the only prison guard killed by the prisoners, got medical treatment from a few prisoners. The hostage family members interviewed show no ill will to the prisoners. They have plenty of that for the State Government's inadequate attempts at restitution. 

Overall, Attica earns its place among this year's Oscar nominees. It's a tense and perfectly infuriating documentary about the injustice of the justice system. It gives you a lot to think about the present as it describes the past. You won't stop thinking about it after its 117 minutes are done. You can only hope that it's somewhat better than it was. Somewhat.