WHITEY: USA VS. JAMES J. BULGER

DOCUMENTARY  |  R

CNN Films presents a sweeping and revelatory nonfiction feature film that follows this past summer’s trial of the infamous gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger, using the courtroom action as a springboard to examine accusations of multi-faceted corruption within our nation’s law enforcement and legal systems. Embedded for months with an incredible cast of characters -- including FBI agents, victims families, Bulger’s defense lawyers, gangsters, journalists, and police officers -- Academy Award-nominated director Joe Berlinger examines how Bulger was empowered and abetted by the FBI and the Department of Justice, as a consequence of its Top Echelon Informant program, to reign over a criminal empire in South Boston for decades. Using the unfolding of the trial as the dramatic thread for the film that brings together the main players in the Bulger story, WHITEY sows seeds of uncertainty about long-held beliefs about Bulger’s story, while also questioning Bulger’s own claims of impunity and engaging in a point-counterpoint between opposing sides deeply invested in memorializing their own versions of the truth. At the emotional center of this debate, are the victims and victim’s families, who to this day continue to seek truth, justice and accountability after decades of obfuscation and misinformation. Purposefully raising more questions than it answers, WHITEY offers a fascinating exploration of the elusiveness of the truth and the human impulse to claim ownership of it in pursuit of one’s own ends, while also pointing to disturbing allegations of institutional corruption.

RUNTIME

107 minutes

OFFICIAL MOVIE WEBSITE

magpictures.com/whitey