'When They See Us' starts necessary conversation about tragic case

The success of and national conversation started by the Central Park Five drama When They See Us proves once again that director Ava DuVernay does wonders with material like this.

Her breakthrough film Selma happened coincide with a bitter fight over degrading elements of the Voting Rights Act.

Her blistering documentary 13th, not only shed light on the tragically flawed prison industrial complex, but it also forced Hillary Clinton to confront her uncomfortable past, stumping for the infamous crime bill of the '90s while using terms like "super-predators."

Her new, ambitious miniseries, is a very vivid retelling of the horrifying true story of the Central Park Five. And perhaps ironically, because one of the falsely accused five's loudest enemies -- Donald Trump -- is now president of the United States (1?) and he also still stubbornly insisting that they simply must be guilty of a crime that someone else confessed to and which DNA evidence cleared them of participating in -- their story has a newfound relevance.

I was too young to be caught up in the Central Park Five drama when it first happened 30 years ago, but I do remember that period being very violent and racially fraught in New York City. I grew up in New Jersey but I got a steady diet of scary headlines pumped into my veins from the local NewYork affiliate on a daily basis.

Years later I ravenously consumed Ken Burns' heartbreaking documentary about the five boys who lost their childhood because overzealous prosecutors and heartless cops, most of whom never admitted fault in their case.

The companion book, penned by Burns' daughter Sarah, is an even more harrowing experience, if nothing else because if goes into gruesome detail about the crimes the real assailant of the Central Park Jogger did and continued to do while these five innocent black and brown youths endured untold horrors behind bars.

After A Wrinkle in Time landed with a thud -- I can't remember a more reviled recent film that still somehow managed to eek out a $100 million gross -- I think a lot of folks started to second-guess DuVernay's talent. That disappoint came on the heels of her walking off Black Panther, only to see Ryan Coogler take the superhero genre film to new heights, scoring an unprecedented nod for Best Picture.

But here her virtuoso skills are back on display in full force. She knows how to tell very moving intimate stories on a very large canvas. You never lose the sense that this was a crime that captivated the city if not a nation, while at the same time you come to care about each individual boys lives and are deeply effected by their fates.

It is no small feat to pull off storytelling on this scale and across four episode there is no important element that goes overlooked -- from the brutality of the attack on the victim to the purely unlucky reason one of the boys, Korey Wise, was even ensnared in the case in the first place.

I was so thrilled to hear the news that the series has been topping Netflix's 'ratings', such as they are, since its debut. And it forced the president stick by his racist position on the case, as he is want to do.

Of course, his words can do nothing to diminish the bravery and strength of the five young men profiled here or take away from the power of DuVernay's filmmaking.

This is stirring, must-see work.