Attica

I saw "Attica" more than 30 years ago. I am distressed that it still has never been available on DVD (or even VHS). The movie documents the prison uprising at Attica prison, and the crushing suppression by the government.

This was no ordinary prison riot. The authorities faced something probably never seen before or since -- black and white prisoners were united, and at least for that brief period, considered, acted, and treated each other as brothers. Their unity became political, for once seeing that instead of remaining pitted against each other, they could resist by uniting. It was a unique and powerful event that scared the bejeezus out of prison and governmental authorities. The lowest of the under-classes became radicalized and united, and they exerted their new found power. It was not an example to let stand. It had to be quashed, and it was.

I don't remember the numbers, but the uprising was crushed, violently and brutally -- many, many inmates killed in the siege. Reports were initially leaked that hostages had been executed by prisoners, reports later proved completely false. There has since been a book or two about the events, but none from a perspective as inside as this movie gives.

We have this movie to thank for bringing some public light to this historic event. (Remember in "Dog Day Afternoon" when Al Pacino exhorted the crowd to resist the police by chanting "Attica, Attica"? This was the movie that told us why.) I can only hope and implore that this movie be released on DVD. I don't know the reasons, but one must question. It's enough to make me feel what David Foster Wallace once wrote, "I know I'm paranoid, but am I paranoid enough?"

Cinda Firestone's "Attica" is too important to just vanish. This is not a movie with an agenda, but a considered documentary of an important time and event. It may be the most important movie never released on DVD.

I had a very keen interest in this documentary because I just read the excellent Pulitzer Prize winning book about Attica called "Blood in the Water." I also watched the movie titled "Against the Wall" which was a dramatization of the Attica uprising starring Samuel L. Jackson and a little too Hollywood for my tastes (playing up the violence of the uprising).

Although the Attica uprising occurred almost 50 years ago, it is relevant today in the sense that now COVID-19 is spreading through the prisons and the prisoners are prone and largely ignored. It's easy to dismiss prisoners as irrelevant because 1.) out of sight, out of mind and 2.) we tend to think of the worse prisoners when we think of them--the killers, rapists, and pedophiles.

This documentary, along with being a very accurate and necessary portrayal of the events that unfolded, it reminds, or even alerts, people that prisoners are human and they aren't all human garbage. It also reminds, if not alerts, people to the fact that the government has always been less than truthful.

I can't even express how much I appreciated this documentary. I saw people, places, and events that corresponded with the book, and just hearing their testimonials gave the entire situation so much more gravity, and gave the prisoners so much more humanity. The Attica uprising may have happened before I was born, but it is a critical piece of American history that should never be forgotten.

"Wake up. Cuz nothing come to a sleeper but a dream."