"Baltimore Rising" (2017 release; 95 min.) is a documentary about the rioting and looting which shook Baltimore following the arrest and subsequent death of Freddy Gray in curious/suspect conditions, and how the city tries to move beyond this. As the movie opens, we are introduced to a blighted neighborhood: "it's not the riots that caused this, it's the condition of the community that caused the riots", comments a Baltimore city council member. We then revisit the event of April, 2015.Couple of comments: this is the latest film from actor-director Sonja Sohn (herself African-American). The initial part of the documentary, focusing on the events in April-May of 2015, are the hardest to watch, as there is so much senseless violence and pent-up anger and frustration in the African-American community, you can;t help but shake your head as you are watching it. Also, did you know that 3 of the 6 accused police officers are African-American? The movie finds its best footing in the aftermath. The Baltimore police reaches out to various leaders in the African-American community as the city awaits the trials of the police officers involved in the Freddy Gray events and the new police chief is desperate to avoid further rioting and looting, no matter what the outcome of the trials. A picture emerges of a segment in the African-American community that is eager to move forward and hence prepared to work with the police. "What can I do for you?", the police chief asks. "Jobs, bring us jobs", is the unanimous answer. Then there is another segment with the African-American community that will never be happy with anything, and instead looks at the rioting and looting as their "right" to protest. There are some startling moments in the film. Let me give you one example: at a certain point one of the social activists hands up a banner that reads 'BALTIMORE RISING" and one of the cops comes up and says "you have to take that banner down". When the activist asks: what law does this banner break", the cop is stumped and eventually mumbles "I don't know" (but the banner is still coming down), wow."Baltimore Rising" recently premiered as part of the HBO Documentary series, and I caught it the other day at HBO on Demand. While this documentary certainly isn't without flaws (it rambles a bit too much for its own good), I learned a thing or two from watching this documentary, and that's always a good thing. "Baltimore Rising" is worth checking out.

This documentary is highly informative and is a must see for anyone interested in social justice. We rarely have the opportunity to hear the voices of the community members who feel compelled, often at great personal and financial risk, to disrupt their (and their family's) lives to stand up for the people in their community, demanding rights to which all US citizens are entitled. Also, we rarely have the opportunity to hear personal perspectives on these same issues of police who are also members of the community. The mainstream news media often takes an 'if it bleeds it leads' stance, looking for violence - and in cases of black communities, looting - by a small minority of those present, as opposed to reporting on the actual, deeper factors that oblige everyday citizens to march in the streets. This documentary aims to look deeper, for example, as community members discuss root causes for the unrest with the new police commissioner. The language is raw in some instances, but so is the emotion. This isn't a political issue for this community and others like it: their very lives and those of their children are at stake. It's not always easy to watch, but definitely worth it to gain a deeper understanding of what occurred in Baltimore.

This review has plenty of spoilers being that it is meant to provide more information than the extremely negative review that given about it initially.Personally I believe all lives matter but when it comes to people of color there does seem to be an injustice taking place if that statement upsets you then you probably should not read further. I do believe the lives of officers matter as well.The documentary focuses on the city of Baltimore and what happened with the Freddie Gray death and how the police and community dealt with it. I like the fact that it focused mainly on the one death and the movement that started with it and how the community and police are trying to work together.Now the main spoilers, key figures and facts: The documentary explains how Police in Maryland have their own Bill of Rights that was codified in 1974 and when alleged of a crime it would be reviewed by Trial Council of their own peers and the investigation has special restrictions and time restraints not normally seen by regular citizens.Lt Col Melvin Russell, Police Community Collaboration, explains in the past when police walked through the communities they would learn and socialize with the community but with the use of patrol cars they started going from hot-spot to hot-spot instead and now there is less communication taking place with everyday citizens. He is working with community organizers to reduce crime and improve communications.Makayla Gilliam-Price (Activist) One of the founders of the #BlackLivesMatter movement in Baltimore, Pushing for social change from early on and parents approve of her passion and try to advice her to stay within the legal system as well while stressing to her to focus on her education first.Kevin Davis (Baltimore Interim and later Police Chief) people are blaming him for officers that arrested Freddie Gray and a divisive figure but he also gives the impression that Baltimore comes first and has handed out his cell phone number to community organizers so they can contact him directly. Which they do take advantage of.Ex-gang leader (Genard "Shadow" Barr) Says one solution for the community is to have jobs but why isn't anyone suggesting starting their own self-employment or pooling skills to provide services instead of repeating the cycle? He does later organize an interdenominational service after the first mistrial between community groups and the police, and one person is quoted as saying they are making real changes and probably having more effect than the young people protesting and marching at City Hall.Kwame Rose (Activist) looking at events from one side and even when he is breaking the law, because he wasn't arrested, even though warned, continues to break the law and then can't understand when he does get arrested why he is in trouble and blames the system. Get arrested for being a public nuisance and resisting arrest after protesting outside of City Hall for 3 days with a megaphone. Parents try explaining to him where he was wrong. Later seen outside City Hall again with megaphone while on probation. Gets arrested again with 3 charges against him. He had a private attorney the first time but is broke now and for trial even the ACLU would not represent him. Found guilty of disobeying an officer and ACLU filed an appeal. Final result served one day of probation for disorderly conduct and all other charges were dropped.Adam Jackson and Dayvon Love, group of older adults running an community organization to get real changes made to policies while supporting and educating activists such as Kwame and Makayla. They are also trying to get the Trial review board to include non-police members. Something being done in other states as well but the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) union is resisting it.The media has there part in the story as well, too many are looking for ratings instead of either the truth, source of the issues, or solutions and are following a "if it bleeds it leads" mentality or in one simpler word "sensationalism".A Maryland Bill is debated requiring citizen participation on police disciplinary boards and that certain hearings are to be public and it does get passed even though the FOP union says they are again citizens having a say in what happens to officers.End results all the officers are found not guilty but the Justice department also releases a scathing report criticizing the Baltimore Police department of routine discrimination and rampant use of excessive fore without accountability.Lt Col Russell later makes a key statement, it took the Baltimore uprising to wake the system up.If any of the above interests you then it will be worth the watch.#BaltimoreRisingDoc @HBODocs

Ignore comments about this documentary being liberal bias and about "thugs" -- this film is a historical and situational look into the lives of the Baltimore community, both citizens, police officers, and everyone in between. This documentary seamlessly ties together everyone's competing realities over Baltimore and the 2015 riots and asks bigger questions about the effectiveness and accountability that exists (or lack thereof) within legal and judicial systems in the United States, particularly Baltimore.