Highly Overrated But Still Good

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

This film about Dewey Bozella was narrated by Laurence Fishburne and clocks in at under an hour--not two hours in length like it indicates on IMDb. It's currently available for streaming on Netflix and it's well worth seeing--even if you couldn't care less about boxing.I said in the summary that this true story (much of which consists of interviews with Bozella) is profoundly sad. That's because Bozella spent 26 years in prison based on testimony of two convicted felons who only agreed to testify in order to get out of prison! No other evidence of Bozella's involvement in a murder was presented and, it turns out, that evidence that refuted the two eye witnesses' accounts was suppressed by the prosecution. This is pretty clearly a case where a man was unjustly convicted. But this isn't the end of the story. If he was simply a victim, it would have been a much less compelling story. Instead, Dewey used his time wisely in Sing Sing--getting a masters degree, staying out of trouble and learning to box. In fact, he was a very good boxer and surely would have had a career in this had he not been behind bars. Now, with his conviction finally tossed out, he is a free man--and wants to box professionally. However, at age 50 it's unlikely he'll get his boxing license. Watch this fascinating film to see what's next in this inspiring film.

26 Years: The Dewey Bozella Story (2012) *** 1/2 (out of 4)I had never heard of Dewey Bozella before watching this documentary but once you do see him and hear his story it's pretty hard to forget. Bozella spent 26 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit and on the inside the only thing that kept him going was boxing. After finally being cleared of all charges he was released from prison where he wanted to complete his dream of one professional boxing match. I must admit that I found Bozella's story incredibly touching and powerful and there are moments in this documentary that are some of the strongest I've ever seen. It's rather amazing to think that someone could have twenty-six years of their life taken from them and yet stay so strong and true to themselves. There's a portion of his story where he could have been released from prison had he only said he did the crime but he refused because integrity was more important than his freedom. I'm not going to ruin the entire scene but just check out the sequence where he confronts a man on the telephone and just listen to the pain and anger in his voice. This sequence is one of the most raw and powerful things I've ever seen and you can't help but have your heart break. Those already familiar with the story should still find this entertaining as the strong itself is just so strong that you can't help but get caught up in it. Lawrence Fishburne does a very good job with the narration and we even get Oscar De La Hoya and Bernard Hopkins in brief parts. 26 YEARS: THE DEWEY BOZELLA STORY is an incredibly powerful documentary that should be shown to people just to remind them that whenever you feel everything is gone and out of your reach that one should just stay in there and keep fighting.