Asian Americans unite to free Chol Soo Lee, a Korean immigrant who was wrongly convicted of a gang murder, but once out, he self-destructs, threatening the movement's legacy and the man himself.... (Full plot summary below)
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Asian Americans unite to free Chol Soo Lee, a Korean immigrant who was wrongly convicted of a gang murder, but once out, he self-destructs, threatening the movement's legacy and the man himself.
Leave your thoughts about Free Chol Soo Lee.
| Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleIn its clear-eyed empathy for the totality of life, Free Chol Soo Lee is only deepened by not ignoring what happens when the spotlight fades on a righted wrong, and what’s left are demons, trauma, guilt and that thing both sought after and scary: being free. |
| The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeThe directors do good work in conjuring up a remote era and teasing out still extant racial tensions. One does, however, end up yearning to hear a little more about how the legal team went about their work. A good complaint to have. |
| The GuardianCath ClarkeWhat makes the film so engrossing is how much attention the film-makers give to Lee’s complicated life after prison. |
| RogerEbert.comOdie HendersonChol Soo Lee’s complicated story deserves to be told; this film does a good job telling it. |
| TheWrapLena WilsonIn the documentary Free Chol Soo Lee, first-time doc directors Julie Ha and Eugene Yi use archival materials in an attempt to present their tragic hero in all three dimensions. Despite their efforts, Soo Lee feels just out of reach, but the story of his life remains as important as it is horrifying. |
| Film ThreatRay LoboThere’s a throughline in this country’s history that goes from The Asian Exclusion Act to Chol Soo Lee’s case to publicized cases in the last few years of hate crimes against Asians. Free Chol Soo Lee reminds us that when we sit on the sideline and do not actively fight against discrimination and the stereotyping of Asians, real people, such as Chol Soo Lee, suffer. |
| The Film StageJohn FinkDirectors Ha and Yi craft a compelling and moving tribute to a man who was by no means a perfect person but nevertheless had a remarkable impact on breaking barriers. |
| The PlaylistR. Colin TaitDirectors Ha and Yi’s unflinching portrait of Lee is also admirable, as the movie shows the overall effects of a system indifferent to people who fall through its cracks. By staying with Lee and his story, from his early years in Korea, to his later years in America as an injured ex-convict, the documentary shows how the damage to Lee occurred, both as a death row inmate and a reluctant figurehead for the movement that coalesced around him. |
| Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerAs documentary Free Chol Soo Lee shows, it's wisdom that seems to evade what are supposed to be the mechanisms of that justice. |
| Rolling StoneK. Austin CollinsFree Chol Soo Lee is not a true crime documentary. If anything, it goes out of its way to avoid becoming one. |
