Extra Credit: Crime and Punishment

Crime and Punishment Screening + Q&A:

I had the privilege of attending the Crime and Punishment screening at Hunter College on November 7th, 2018. The documentary follows nine New York city officers and their journey to expose the corruption regarding quotas and arrests. I was very impressed with how captivating the film style was, and how genuine the subjects stories were conveyed. The documentary was filmed over a process of four years, and helped bring awareness to the moral state of the NYPD, and the illegal practices of quotas and window policing .

One of my favorite aspects of the film was the symbolism between the aerial shots of New York City, and the role a citizen plays in the film. The director Stephen Miang explained that the aerial shots to show that the film was not a single story, but a systemic issue. Miang wanted the viewers to embrace a macro and micro view of the human issue on the ground. He paralleled this by showing ground shots, then cutting to aerial shots. Another detail of these shots is that they unlock complacency and the expansion of the human experience; they express that the injustice in the NYPD is linked to the larger population.

Another of my favorite aspects of the film was how Miang combined all the narratives during the climax of the film. The film begins with all the nine narratives separately to highlight their struggle, but then ties them all together to convey how this issue is systematic.