The Rape of Recy Taylor (2017) User Reviews

Probably good

[bgoo-19890 · 6/10 · 23 February 2021]

This was probably a good movie. However I could only understand about every other word

I rated this movie a 10 because the contents merits it!!!

[peggyapbrooks · 10/10 · 12 June 2020]

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.

A powerfull true story done just horribly

[agrabel88 · 10/10 · 15 June 2020]

This was not done well. This is a powerfull true story that could have enlighten millions. Its a shame they didn't even try to make it better.

Interesting but uneven and needed a better telling.

[propaganda21 · 4/10 · 29 July 2018]

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.

Truth still wins

[christopherjetset · 10/10 · 27 October 2021]

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.

Too bleached to be real.

[rosiejackson-61661 · 3/10 · 17 April 2018]

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.

Great story could use better treatment

[josephw-32691 · 5/10 · 28 March 2021]

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.