Attica - 1 nomination

 

Best Documentary Feature
Stanley Nelson
Traci Curry

Attica is the incredibly powerful story of the 1971 inmate uprising at Attica prison.  The conditions in the prison were both environmentally and physically brutal, and the inmates just couldn't take it anymore.  In this brilliant film, those interviewed included former inmates, negotiators, politicians, and family members of guards who were taken hostage.  No feeling person could argue that what the inmates lived through represents anything representing humane and I think it would be harder to argue that the uprising was anything but inevitable.  The involvement of politicians who care more about optics than effectiveness is haunting - in fact, this film reminds us that blowhards who say things like, "just punch that guy in the face" didn't crop up recently.  If this film reminds us anything, it's that when you deprive people of liberty, it must be for a good reason and can't constitute government overreach, and that when you do, you become responsible for the living conditions of the prisoner.  There is much to learn from this incredible documentary.

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