A very important documentary film titled "Justifiable Homicide" has recently been released throughout the United States. Produced and directed by Academy Award nominee Jonathan Stack and Jon Osman, it weaves together two gripping stories. One is of how Margarita Rosario, a Puerto Rican housewife living in the Bronx, New York has her whole life change after her son, Anthony Rosario, and nephew, Hilton Vega, were brutally murdered in 1995 by two New York City police officers, James Crowe and Patrick Brosnan. The other is about how the true facts in the case were uncovered by an independent autopsy and through a lengthy investigation by the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) only to be covered up at the highest levels of the New York Police Department (NYPD) and the Giuliani administration.

On the one hand, "Justifiable Homicide" is a hardboiled "The facts, man, just the facts" kind of film; but on the other, it's very compassionate. It brings us into the intimate feelings of Margarita Rosario as she went through the harrowing experience of finding out that her 18-year-old son was dead. This would have been bad enough, but there was the shock, bewilderment and pain of being told that Anthony - who had been pretty much a model youth - and Hilton Vega were killed while committing a crime. Then, day after day she has to see it splashed all over the headlines that the young men had pulled a gun on an officer, that they were committing a robbery - all kinds of things that made them look like common thugs who got what they deserved and good riddance.

We see how, at first, Margarita Rosario is so devastated that she pretty much collapses under the weight of it all and becomes despondent. But then, with the help of friends, especially of Carmen Morales, her sister-in-law and the mother of Hilton Vega, she begins to pull herself together and starts trying to find out what actually happened. She just can't believe her son did what he is accused of. We see her gradually gain strength until by the end she has become a real force. She is now a powerful community activist and founding member of Parents Against Police Brutality who says, "I fight not only for my son, but for all our sons."

And just as we see the growth of Margarita Rosario throughout the film, we also see the growth of evidence that if any crime was committed, it was by the two police detectives, one of whom was a former Giuliani bodyguard.

Through actual film footage taken at the crime scene by the CCRB (an independent city agency whose responsibility is to serve as watchdog over the NYPD) when they examine the trajectory of each of the 28 bullets that were pumped into the two men and the floorboards around them, it becomes clear that Rosario and Vega were laying face down on the floor when they were executed. Testimony by witnesses of the shooting corroborates that fact.

However, when the CCRB asks that the case be reopened, the Police Department refuses. Instead, there is a cover up, and then a cover up of the cover up. All the people on the CCRB who worked on the case are either forced to resign or are fired. Also, quite mysteriously a floorboard that provided evidence that the young men were killed while lying face down disappears from the CCRB evidence room, never to be found again.

As we watch the peeling away of layer after layer of lies that surrounded this case and the exposing of detail after detail of what actually happened - including in some inner sanctums of power where people did everything they could to prevent the truth from coming out - it is both horrifying and fascinating. That is why this film is such a valuable tool for educating people who know very little about "police misconduct" as it's so nicely termed. The fact is, some of what goes on as to police corruption and police brutality is so incredible it's hard to believe. This movie puts it right out there where we can see it as clear as day.

And even if you already know more than enough about police brutality and don't have the slightest desire to see a film about it, you should see "Justifiable Homicide" anyway. It is gripping from start to finish, and the amazing thing is, there is something exhilarating about seeing so much evil laid so bare. Even though the film's finish is open-ended because there is no resolution yet, far from feeling downcast or discouraged, one actually walks away with a positive emotion that good must come from this.

And there is Margarita Rosario, God bless her, who isn't going to let up. "I will never stop fighting until I see these two detectives behind bars," she says. And you know she means it!

For more information about where "Justifiable Homicide" will be showing, how to get a video, arrange for a screening, etc., please visit www.realityfilms.net or call (917) 209-8387.