Whose Streets?
Whose Streets?
| 11 August 2017 (USA)
Whose Streets? Trailers

A nonfiction account of the Ferguson uprising told by the people who lived it, this is an unflinching look at how the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown inspired a community to fight back—and sparked a global movement.

Reviews
Tesni Taylor

This film entirely changed the way I saw Ferguson and how the death of Mike Brown impacted the local community. Please watch this film.

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andrewbyrne-24212

The people who gave this movie a bad review for the reasons they provided need to read a history book. I am not even American and I know that this kind of stuff is not pushing an agenda of any kind. It's continuing a centuries long struggle that unfortunately seems to have no end.This documentary was emotional and powerful and told the story from a point of view many of us cannot possibly understand because we have not lived it. The only problem I have with this movie is that it doesn't contain more information from the people involved. I wanted even more interviews and more footage.

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bobina_sm

I came here to read about and review this documentary after viewing. I was so moved by it that I am leaving my first review of anything. Then I read the last two reviews, both posted on November 16, 2017. Neither are reviews of the documentary but attacks on Mike Brown. I won't get into how I grew up within 10 miles in of Ferguson or about how I've lived in St. Louis for 50. How I know that, even though I'm a white woman, racism is alive and well in St. Louis. This documentary was a very accurate portrayal of what the reality is for black people (and other POC) in St. Louis. I've witnessed it over and over again. The documentary was very well done. It was straight forward and real. Everybody should watch it.

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jdesando

"A riot is the language of the unheard." chapter heading Having never participated in a protest, much less a riot, I felt I had done both after experiencing directors Sabaah Folay and Damon Davis's Whose Streets? Their documentary about Ferguson, Missouri, and the death of Mike Brown in 2014 is an unremittingly real and passionate participant point of view that celebrates the will of an oppressed people to be heard.Whose Streets? documents the thoughts and actions of the largely black population as they experience the white-cop brutality of Ferguson and St. Louis police forces, culminating in Mike Brown's being shot 8 times by an officer who justifies the assassination with his fear. The grand jury believed he was faultless, leading to disbelief and riots reminiscent of the reaction to Rodney King's killers' exoneration.The doc is especially effective bringing home the pain with portraits of such sufferers as Brittany Ferrell, a comely and articulate young lesbian who is not afraid to speak her outrage. We see her at home with her children and on the street with the microphone chanting the will to fight to be free, an anthem echoed by virtually everyone facing down the daunting police and national guard forces.The street's-eye view happens largely because cell phones recorded the abuse with a probing expertise heretofore only the province of professional filmmakers. But not today, when those little devices are adjuncts to the spirit of justice, albeit not always enough to bring convictions. David Whitt, a Copwatch citizen videographer, meticulously records and publishes images that damn the militaristic response, for the film's expert doc makers put them together to devastatingly powerful effect.Although white cop Darren Wilson, 28, had Brown in his sights after Brown allegedly robbed a convenience store, Brown should not have died for the crime nor should his body have lain in the street for hours while the community and security reacted. However, most of the forensic evidence and testimony proved that Wilson acted in self defense.If there can be a criticism of this doc, it would be that the evidence finally exonerating Wilson is not presented; he remains guilty in the spirit of the film if not the reality. Although the filmmakers could claim an interest only in the people's plight and reactions, full disclosure for me requires that I also see where the police can be at least partially exonerated.Justice both civil and spiritual is elusive. Whose Streets? is an estimable rendition of a disadvantaged populace struggling to be heard.

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