Emmy-winning LA 92 is a powerful chronicle of decades of racial injustice and police brutality in America’s second-largest city.
Much of the film focuses on the events of April 29, 1992. That day, four police officers were acquitted of using excessive force against Rodney King, an African-American driver who was mercilessly beaten when he was arrested on suspicion of DUI. In this After the unjust verdict, well-fed civilians rioted across the city, leading to further violence and extensive property damage. In the minds of many historians and cultural leaders, the event served as a much-needed wake-up call for people across the country and around the world.
As the film deftly explores, the Los Angeles riots of 1992 were the culmination of decades of intense racial unrest in the city. The 1965 riots in the Watts district were an important symbol of tension between the black community and the Los Angeles police force. When a Korean shopkeeper was freed in 1991 after the unconscious murder of 15-year-old Latasha Harlins, the fuse of oppression and injustice could no longer be snuffed out.
The film is based entirely on footage produced by the news media and people on the street, including much that the public has never seen before. There are no off-the-cuff narratives to put everything in perspective or distance yourself from unnecessary editorial. This is a living story, throbbing with the festering wounds of racism.
Despite being presented as an exhausting “immersive” image montage, the film benefits from the context that nearly three years of retrospectives can bring. Many viewers will likely be able to identify and understand the earthquakes that led to this volcanic event more easily than they do now. Most of all, the film is a concise anthropological study of the need to be heard, respected, and valued.
Of course, LA 92 is more than a historical document; it lives and breathes the same issues that the country is still grappling with today.
Directed by: Daniel Lindsay, T.J. Martin
