User Reviews

To fully appreciate the ins and outs of this case, you really need to watch all three episodes of the documentary. To say it is complex is an understatement. The basic story is that three relatively privileged white guys in their 30s, on their way home from a night out, stop in traffic as the road is blocked by a stationary car. One of the guys, Sean, goes to remonstrate with the driver of the other car. A 20 year old black guy, delivering Uber eats on his bicycle happens to be passing, and stops to intervene in the confrontation. He shouts at Sean to stop being a bully, or something similar. This is where things get a bit hazy. Michael White, the cyclist says that Sean said he was going to beat the black off him. However, none of the many witnesses could corroborate this. Allegedly feeling threatened as Sean approached him, White pulls a knife from his backpack, the two get into a tussle, and Sean ends up getting stabbed in the back.

As I stated previously, to fully understand all the various allegations, stories, and versions of events, watch the documentary. It is clear that the DA's office made some extremely questionable decisions in the lead up to the trial, with an apparently political agenda. And inevitably the media played their part in peoples opinions, and it became a fairly high profile case. Personally, I believe justice was not done, the legal system heavily interfered, and had charges reduced from murder 1, then to 3 then manslaughter, against the recommendation of the assistant DA, who was the lead in the case. The fact remains, that by his own admission, Michael White stopped and inserted him self in an argument that had nothing to do with him, confronted Sean, and in the ensuing confrontation, pulled out a knife and a man ended up dead. Regardless of all the surrounding did he, didn't he toing and froing, Michael White made several decisions that night, which led to Sean's death.

Obviously there are many backstories and conflicting reports, and everyone should come to their own conclusion, and I am sure many will disagree with mine after watching the shows. It is almost impossible to understand all the facts unless you live in Philadelphia and are aware of the inherent racial tensions and class divide. But going on the bare facts alone, there should be a lot of questions asked of the DA Larry Krasner.

So I finished 72 Seconds and I was blown away. It pulled off a miracle by being able to do such a balanced portrayal of both points of view. That seems like an impossible thing to do for so many other documentaries recently where they inevitably favor one side and omit facts from the other side. I can definitely say I understood both points of view and everything was made very clear. I never once felt manipulated by the way anything was portrayed which was refreshing.

The only thing I felt a little confused by was the confrontation between Sean and the Uber driver that led up to the situation with Mike. I also thought that MIke claimed he was cut off by Sean's car. I would have liked to have had more clarity about that. That was the only thing that I felt was missing from the finished project though it could be my misunderstanding.

I think making it into a three part series was a brilliant move because it gave everything more time to breathe. I really liked the drone shots and the time lapse shot at the beginning. I think the cinematography was great. I think the animation throughout the film was also a brilliant choice as in that it allowed us to realize how people's perceptions of the case shifted. In the first episode the animation shows Mike intentionally stabbing Sean while he was down but later when we see the actual footage it completely flipped the narrative.

It's a really tough situation because everyone wants to make race and class a central part of the issue when it really shouldn't be. IMO it tends to skew too many people's perceptions of the facts. In situations like this I prefer to review the situation with the races reversed or ignored because I don't want to be influenced by assumptions of racism. I don't think it's fair for anyone to be treated differently because of skin color.

At the same time I don't want to ignore the race and class aspects because racial injustices are wrong. Rizzo's attack on the Black Panthers appeared to be a clear abuse of power. But that doesn't mean that there weren't lawful arrests of Black Panthers in other situations. I can understand why Mumia Abu Jamal was angry at the cops but it didn't justify murdering Officer Daniel Faulkner. It would be interesting to have a documentary on the history of Rizzo...

Neither Sean's, nor Mike's, race is relevant to the case IMO. The important facts are that Mike tried to back away, Sean kept coming after him, and Sean tried to bodyslam him resulting in the stabbing. As much as Mike didn't need to pull out the knife Sean didn't need to try and bodyslam him. Sean could have walked away and lived. It would be the same if the skin colors were reversed.

It's ironic that this happened in Rittenhouse Square because of how much it parallels the Kyle Rittenhouse case. In both instances the person on trial inserted themselves into a situation for better or worse. In both instances the person on trial had a weapon for self defense. In both cases the people with the weapons were trying to back away from conflict. In both instances the people that were killed instigated the aggression against the armed person resulting in their deaths or injuries in the case of Gaige Grosskreutz. In both instances there were people who wanted the killer to suffer because of their racial and/or political prejudice against them. And in both instances the accused were rightfully acquitted because of the facts of the case.

I respect Krasner for not playing weasel word games and twisting facts to try and get a conviction like the lawyer in the Rittenhouse case. Too many high profile cases are being controlled by hate mobs and jury intimidation these days. It would have been easier to sacrifice Mike to the mob but he didn't do it. I can understand Sean's family's anger against Krasner because he did change the goal posts at the last minute in a way that could have impacted the verdict. Based on the totality of the evidence I can see where this is a simple self defense case. It was a tragedy that should have been avoided. Rick James nailed it on the head when he said cocaine is a hell of a drug...