After Innocence

There are many ways to reach rock-bottom. And there are probably just as many ways to end up bitter. But the lead characters in After Innocence have somehow succeeded in avoiding this. Already the winner of numerous prizes, director Jessica Sanders’ second documentary follows seven men, all of whom have been sentenced to long prison sentences for violent crimes they have not committed. They have been failed by a justice system which has forgotten that every human being is innocent until proven guilty. And they have been failed yet again on finally regaining their freedom thanks to new DNA evidence.After Innocence is a harsh attack on the American justice system. Sanders achieves her aims not by attacking the system, but rather by following these falsely convicted men in their day-to-day existences, as they try to re-enter society and rebuild their lives. After Innocence grabs the viewer’s attention and asks us what human rights are worth?ADOLFO DIAZ LAMPINEN