100% on Rotten Tomatoes and described as ‘a masterpiece’
The Keepers, 13th, Making A Murderer, Precinct Seven Five, Tower, Oklahoma City, Casting JonBenet. Netflix have been incredibly shrewd when it comes to acquiring true crime documentaries to their library, and their next addition has already proven to an award winner.
At the Sundance Film Festival, Strong Island received the Special Jury Award for Storytelling and Yance Ford’s powerful documentary examines the racially charged murder of the filmmaker’s brother, his killer’s acquittal and the family’s response.
In the documentary, we get to see how William Ford Jr somehow managed to become a prime suspect in his own murder.
In 1992, the 24-year-old William was killed by Mark Reilly, a white 19-year-old mechanic who claimed self-defense.
At the time of his murder, William was un-armed. He was shot following a dispute about a minor traffic accident.
We’re told that Strong Island will ‘be a deeply intimate and meditative film that asks what one can do when the grief of loss is entwined with historical injustice, and how one grapples with the complicity of silence, which can bind a family in an imitation of life, and a nation with a false sense of justice.’
In their five-star review, The Guardian said that “the excellence of Strong Island is that it captures a family dynamic and intensity that is normally hard to depict,” while The New Yorker called it a “powerful cinematic memoir.”
Strong Island debuts on Netflix from September 15th.
Take a look at what’s in store.
