Essay Example on The Seven Five: The Story of Michael Dowd's Crimes & Redemption

Centered on the 75th Precinct in East New York, the movie The Seven Five, as directed by Tiller Russell, focuses on the crimes committed by an Erstwhile New York police department officer. Brought to justice in 1992 for having cocaine, Michael Dowd being a ring leader of dirty crew cops, agreed to testify in exchange for a leniency recommendation by the commission in regards to his sentence. In the film's opening minutes, Michael is seen testifying before the commission and admits to all the charges laid against him.

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The film then jumps back to the early 80s during cocaine crackdown when corrupt cops would arrest thugs for their gain. Graduating into the force, Michael seeing how easily cops could get extra cash, decided to conform to the behavior, making it a habit. The cocaine stakes at that time were high that he confessed to bagging home around four thousand dollars a week at one point (Cheshire, 2015).

The film shows how he scaled up the ladder from being a lowly ranked dealer to an in-play collaborator with his bosses. He is connected to a renowned drug dealer named Chelo, who heads the La Compania gang through Baron Perez (Dowd, 2015). It is at the point that he starts getting big deals and, at one point, even meeting Adam Diaz, who paid him and his crew eight thousand dollars a week to keep his gang off the police trail.

In an interview by the Mollen Commission, commissioned to investigate police corruption and anti-corruption procedure of the police department, Michael and his colleagues give a clear picture of how they conducted their activities and even mentioning the names of the people who were involved.

The movie, unlike others, deserves the credit being that the directors do not work with the theoretical stories but rather stories told by the criminals who carried out the acts as well as the people who investigated the case. The approach to air the story as a documentary, making it fiction free, gives it even a more upper hand as compared to other movies previously produced. It uses both the confession of Dowd and his colleagues together with the available footage to give the viewer the authentic experience of what happened (Pictures, 2014). The editors' role cannot go unmentioned, being that the duo (Chad Beck and James Carroll) expertly put together the emotional testimonies, along with the archival and surveillance footage, to give the film its incomparable dramatic power.

One thing to note in the film is the culture within the police department to avoid internal wrangles with fellow police officers. The move by Suffolk County police to arrest Dowd but not the New York police department internal affairs unit clearly explains the act. It also shows how hard corrupt cops find it difficult to involve other offices in the quest for money from the wrong side. The act by Dowd to convince his partner, Kenny Eurell, shows how a good cop can turn bad from the influence of a close partner (Holzman, Saidman, & Yellen, 2015). The involvement of superior officers in the deal can also be seen as one of the factors that support cops being corrupt. Knowing very well that he was fully protected by his superiors, Dowd was never worried about his actions and their consequences.

Conclusion

In summary, the film reveals how effective corruption within the police force can be handled. It takes note of how the arrest was made and how the case was handled in such a manner that Dowd and his colleagues did not escape justice. Considering that the film is also used as a documentary, it aims to educate society against corruption.

References

Cheshire, G (2015). The Seven Five. Retrieved from https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-seven-five-2015

Dowd, M. (2015). The Seven Five. Documentary. HD. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBB7DolmQPY

Holzman, E, Saidman, A, & Yellen, S (2015). The Seven Five. Crime Documentary.

Pictures, S. (2014). The Seven-Five. The documentary by Eli Holzman, Aaron Saidman, and Sheldon Yeller.