The Rape of Recy Taylor

The content is heavy, dark, violent and disgusting, but it's the history that this country would prefer not be told. Great work. Sad that even today, people want to protect their own even in wrong doing by dismissing gang rape as randy good old boy behavior.

The story of Recy Taylor is a harsh reality that needs to be brought to light. Sadly this documentary errs on the busy side, with an ominous churning soundtrack throughout that , at times, has two types of music going on at once. The images are often rapidly switched with transitions that don't give sufficient breathing time and even the story itself seemed insufficient in the eyes of the filmmakers to stand on its own. It's a necessary story and a difficult truth but it could have used a more effective treatment through this medium.

I saw this documentary here in Sweden and feel with all my heart about the story of Recy Taylor and also of her family. I just wish it could be devoted to this woman who suffered injustice for her whole life. My sincere love goes out to her and the family and the courage they show to tell their story. I would have given this a 10 if it wasn't twisted to a sort of LGBTQ tone and actually taken away the respect for the people involved.

To rate this movie as less than 10, is a true disservice to the integrity and importance of this movie's content. What happened to Recy was terrible and a shame. Therefore, we cannot continue to behave imperviously or continue in a dumb stupor just because TRUTH makes us feel a little uncomfortable. Thank you.

This is quite a slow, considered documentary on the rape of Recy Taylor using old race films, photographs, footage and evocative music to convey the times. It starts well enough, although at times it it completely overshadowed by the music (Dinah Washington' achingly haunting, This Bitter Earth) and the arty reconstructions distract. It's uneven and Recy Taylor's story is devastating enough without the documentary halfway veering into a discourse about black women's activism by some preachy white feminist scholar. Reframing the narrative through a modern perspective is more often that not, unfaithful to history. One of the most powerful images that I took away was Recy Taylor's father having to spend nights in a tree with a shotgun to guard his family after they'd gone public about the rape. It's a harrowing story but it isn't handled very well. I don't recall if they mentioned the similar gang rape of Betty Jean Owens. fifteen years later, and the different outcome, but they should have.

I agree that we do need more of these movies, but this one miss the point. Maybe I am wrong, but as a white woman I strongly believe that is ESSENTIAL that these movies should be made ENTIRELY by black people. The movies is confusing, jumping from the story of Recy Taylor, to the autobiography of Rosa Park, which is already a well-known pillar of the African American right movements. The continuous jumping back and forth in between Rosa and Recy takes away from the horror, and we need to UNDERSTAND AND BELIEVE the horror. Also, the story is about a woman and HER FAMILY victimized both physically and mentally by the Justice system. It's too much to take in, to hear the tearing stories of the rapists' relatives describing them as just kids fooling around, or even worse war vet with purple hearts. It's also unacceptable to hear a white woman (despite how much she wants to help) saying that the Civil Right Movement "abandoned" Recy after the Second Grand Jury fail to convict. What was excruciating and marvelously done, was the agony and complete sense of despair her father suffered. It almost reflected the saying: when there's no hope , there's nothing.