DAVID BIANCULLI

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INDEPENDENT LENS: "LET THE FIRE BURN"
May 12, 2014  | By David Bianculli

PBS, 10:00 p.m. ET

 

This new documentary by Jason Osder is an archival study of a literally incendiary moment in Philadelphia history. It’s the moment when Philadelphia police, in a standoff with members of the radical urban group MOVE, surrounded the group’s West Philly townhouse to evict them – and when the MOVE members refused, the police dropped an “incendiary device” on the roof by helicopter and, as was admitted afterward, “let the fire burn,” resulting in 11 deaths, including those of five children. Osder doesn’t conduct any new interviews for this Lens report. Instead, he scoured archives to find, and put together, footage from the period, shown on live local TV stations as the standoff built and climaxed. I was a TV critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer then, and watching it on television was one of the most unbelievable live stories I ever covered. Check local listings.

 
 
 
 
 
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