When They See Us: Why Harlem Five documentary is a must-watch – Hayley Matthews

The Netflix mini-series When They See Us tells the true story of a group of boys who were wrongly convicted of a brutal rape in New York and shows how powerful a good documentary can be, writes Hayley Matthews.

Jharrel Jerome as Korey Wise, one of the Harlem Five, now known as the Exonerated Five, in the Netflix show When They See Us

I’m quite sure I’m not the only one who slumps in front of the telly at the end of the day, especially with the recent cold, wet, windy and generally dreich weather that we’ve been having. I’m loving the variety of choice and genres that we have now with online TV streaming as well as the on-demand viewing services available to many of us. It makes the escapism a bit easier at night when you want to switch off from all the dramas in your own life.

I know I should be supporting Scottish-made TV but I have to admit that I struggle sometimes to find anything on the mainstream channels and more often than not head over to Netflix and Amazon Prime as well as many others to satisfy my viewing cravings.

The most interesting watches for me seem to be the real-life stories and the most recent that I binged on was When They See Us about the Exonerated Five, previously referred to as the Harlem Five.

What a difficult watch but it’s real, it happened to five young boys and we need to watch their story to stop it happening to others.

If you’ve not heard of them, and many won’t have, let me give you a brief introduction – without spoiling it for you obviously. The mini-series looks at the five male suspects who were falsely accused of a brutal attack on a female jogger whilst she was jogging in New York’s Central Park in the late 80s. The story is gripping and unimaginable at times.

After beatings, kids give in to police

These young kids, many of them barely adults, were falsely convicted of attacking the jogger who was in such a bad way that she couldn’t remember anything. The story followed the five accused and their families, showing each of their versions of the events that followed on from that night in Central Park.

They were clearly coerced and forced into making false statements by the police department, which was rife with racism. The whole thing gives an insight into how many of America’s young teens from black and Hispanic communities faced no chance in having their voices heard if the justice system deemed them guilty.

Kenny and I sat watching as one of the boys cried saying he didn’t know anything about a jogger, didn’t see any woman and barely knew the other kids he was brought in with.

Yet after 42 hours of being questioned with no guardians present, beaten, left with no food or water, the distraught kids eventually did as the police asked on the promise they could go home.

You’re probably thinking I said I wouldn’t spoil it for you. However, I’ve only scratched the surface and no words could describe the injustice that these kids all suffered.

I said to Kenny as we watched that I wondered how many others had been falsely imprisoned because the judiciary system wanted to put a name to a case. It’s heartbreaking, not just because of the five being falsely accused and incarcerated, but because it’s ruined their lives. Their experiences are all very different but all equally harrowing and you get a sense of how unproductive the justice system can be at times.

If you do watch it – and I urge you to step into these innocent kids’ shoes for a few nights – then please afterwards watch Oprah interview them all in the present day. Never a more emotional and emotive interview have I watched in a long time. It’s wonderful that a female film maker such as Ava Duvernay has been able to tell the story of the five.

Well done Netflix for shining a light on this atrocity and come on Scotland, we need to up our game on the mini-series front – we have so many stories to tell too!