Strong Island

Released Sep 15, 2017

1 hr. 47 min.

Documentary

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for Strong Island: Trailer 1

List

100%

47 Reviews

Tomatometer

57%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

When filmmaker Yance Ford investigates the 1992 murder of a young black man, it becomes an achingly personal journey since the victim, 24-year-old William Ford Jr., was the filmmaker's brother.

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Netflix

Watch Strong Island with a subscription on Netflix.

Critics Consensus

Strong Island uses one family's heartbreaking tragedy to offer a sobering picture of racial injustice in modern America.

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Audience Member

This was terrible. So boring. Point was never made. Very clearly one sided and left out a lot. It took me 3 attempts to even finish this because it was so slow. Don't waste your time.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/12/23

Full Review

Manny P

It made a great start with the aid of the photo montage, it engaged me instantly. My ambivalence surrounds what it's trying to achieve other than remembrance ? There's no denouement ? That , as we know, was in 1992. Tragic indictment of the US, but very biased.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

12/11/21

Full Review

Audience Member

Slow, slow, slow. Don't bother. Made it 3/4 of the way and finally told the wife I couldn't watch any more. She said "thank god" and we went to bed.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Surprised to see such high ratings for something I found meandering and aimless for most of its running time. I fast lost interest and this overly long preamble to nowhere near pulled me back in again. Still not sure what it was hoping to impart but I came away none-the-wiser.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

Full Review

georgan g

Took twice as long as it needed to tell a complicated story.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

It is always difficult to rate sensitive movies. This one is longer than it should and sadly is very one sided, which doesn't allow us to see the full picture

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

Full Review

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Yance Ford

Director

Yance Ford

Actor

Harvey Walker

Actor

Kevin Myers

Actor

Lauren Ford

Actor

David White

Actor

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Strong Island: Clip - Intimidation

2:24

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Strong Island: Trailer 1

2:04

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Robert Abele

Los Angeles Times

Ford's building blocks are familiar, but this is no call-to-action film or how-to guide for getting answers and moving on.

Jul 24, 2018

Full Review

Christy Lemire

What the Flick?!

It's deceptively simple, but it does so much so well. It's heartbreaking by the end...It's just really, really powerful.

Rated: 9/10

Jul 24, 2018

Full Review

Alonso Duralde

What the Flick?!

Ford is so gifted at taking old photographs and interviews and making a movie that is always beautiful to look at.

Rated: 9.5/10

Jul 24, 2018

Full Review

Craig Hubert

Hyperallergic

What Ford is trying to do with Strong Island is make his family's history visible once again, to give it the clarity and focus that were taken away. Through this process, the wounds of the past might be healed.

Feb 5, 2020

Full Review

Matthew Eng

Tribeca Film

One of the rare films to embrace the full literary possibilities of the cinematic medium, in which the images conjured inside the mind can be just as vivid as the ones seen by the naked eye.

May 2, 2019

Full Review

Tomas Trussow

The Lonely Film Critic

Yance [uses] the contours of the memoir to finally give his brother the justice that he was denied all those years ago. Therein lies its undeniable power.

Rated: 4/5

Oct 30, 2018

Full Review

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Synopsis

When filmmaker Yance Ford investigates the 1992 murder of a young black man, it becomes an achingly personal journey since the victim, 24-year-old William Ford Jr., was the filmmaker's brother.

Director: Yance Ford
Executive Producer: Danny Glover, Michel Merkt, Lisa Nishimura, Laura Poitras, Susan Rockefeller, Jason Spingarn-Koff, Tony Tabatznik
Distributor: Netflix
Production Co: Louverture Films, Final Cut for Real
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 15, 2017, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 15, 2017

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