In a revealing new documentary, the inmates who fought back against brutality and inhumane conditions are given a voice
Mention Attica and an iconic moment from Dog Day Afternoon is often top of mind. In Sidney Lumet’s powder-keg film from 1975, Al Pacino’s bank robber turned hostage taker yells “Attica! Attica! Attica!” in a standoff with police. He riles up the gathered crowds and wins sympathy for his predicament by invoking the tragedy that occurred just a few years ago, when inmates took control of Attica correctional facility in a fight for their humanity, keeping trigger happy
police at bay outside the
prison walls for four days.
There is so much to say about that Dog Day Afternoon scene, where a white man invokes a prison rebellion led largely by Black and brown men to win the support of fellow white onlookers, subsequently supplanting the harrowing real life event in cultural memory.