25 best critically acclaimed movies on Netflix

LOS ANGELES, CA – APRIL 27: A street sign marks the intersection of Florence and Normandy Avenues in South Los Angeles on April 27, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. The intersection was the scene of the beating of truck driver Reginald Denny on April 29, 1992 during the early stages of the Los Angeles riots. It’s been 20 years since the Rodney King verdict that sparked the riots. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

14. LA 92 (2017)

Director: Daniel Lindsay, T. J. Martin

The next documentary on the list is LA 92, a visceral account of the 1992 LA riots. The unrest was sparked by decades of police brutality that came to a head in 1991 when an unarmed motorist, Rodney King, was viciously mauled by members of the LAPD.

The beating was caught on videotape, but the four officers involved were acquitted in court. This lit the flame to what would eventually become six days of rioting and looting that would cause one billion dollars in damage to the city of Los Angeles.

There have been plenty of violent race riots that have occurred over the last 50 years in America, but the LA riots happened during the dawn of cable television and home video technology, so cameras were everywhere, and most of the event was broadcasted to a shocked nation.

Because of all the footage available, LA 92 is able to entirely rely on archive footage to tell the story of the uprising. There are no talking heads, no narration, no interviews – similar to no. 24 on the list, The Trader. I guess you can tell that I’m fond of this style of documentary filmmaking.

I just like the fact that the footage is exhibited without context so I can come to my own conclusions about what transpired. When people are interviewed in front of cameras and lights, you never know how they’re account might change, so as a viewer I feel much more comfortable being fed the content as is.

Many docs on the LA riots were released around the same time as LA 92, but I believe this is the best of its contemporaries.