40 Years a Prisoner

Written By Madelyn S

HBO Documentary: 40 Years a Prisoner now streaming on HBO Max

“Documentary film 40 Years A Prisoner chronicles one of the most controversial shootouts in American history, the 1978 Philadelphia police raid on the radical back-to-nature group MOVE, and the aftermath that led to a son’s decades-long fight to free his parents.

Directed by Tommy Oliver (1982), the film illuminates the story of a city grappling with racial tension and police brutality with alarming modern-day relevance. In addition to examining that fateful day through eyewitness interviews and archival footage, the film follows Mike Africa Jr., the son of two MOVE members imprisoned for the death of a police officer, and his lifelong commitment to finding out the truth about what really happened and fighting for the release of the parents that he has only ever known through prison walls.”

Additional reading:

March 24, 2021: Alfreda’s Cinema presents Move: Confrontation in Philadelphia on metrograph.com

Vanity Fair, December 24, 2020: 40 Years a Prisoner Unearths a Little-Told History of Police Violence in Philadelphia

Madelyn S
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What It Means to Break Free: A Tale of Detention, Told in Dance