“Trial 4,” an eight-hour examination of the case of Sean Ellis, a Boston teenager convicted of the murder of a police officer named John Mulligan. The evidence strongly supports Ellis’ innocence, and the docuseries directed by Remy Burkel and executive produced by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade [snip] never really questions it for a second, using this case to as an anchor to tell a story of rampant corruption in the Boston Police Department. “Trial 4” truly takes its time allowing us to get to know Ellis and those fighting for him, and the series is at its best when its deeply empathetic side comes out. It’s too long at eight hours—there’s a stronger version that runs at least two full episodes shorter—but the best of “Trial 4” reflects on what’s lost when corruption is allowed to flourish.
There is of course much, much more than mere corruption at play here. The power dynamic between corrupt cops and their mostly black, oppressed victims oozes from every frame of this important document. The authors may only have inadvertently conveyed that message but they clearly did.
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