- As part of a six-month investigation, The Times synchronized and mapped thousands of videos and police audio of the U.S. Capitol riot to provide the most complete picture to date of what happened - and why.
- The attack on the U.S. Capitol was perhaps the most widely documented act of political violence in history. Day of Rage was produced by obtaining and analyzing thousands of videos of Jan. 6 to show what happened, and why. Viewers gain critical insights into the character and motivation of the rioters by experiencing the day through their cellphone videos, the police's body-worn cameras, surveillance footage inside the Capitol and the internal radio recordings detailing how officers responded. Released to critical acclaim, the film provides a definitive account of an assault on American democracy that rebuts attempts to whitewash Jan. 6. The Harvard Kennedy School said it "will be shown in classrooms for decades to come.—Malachy Browne
- Day of Rage was produced not by dispatching a film crew to cover Jan. 6, but by obtaining and analyzing thousands of cellphone videos, surveillance footage from inside the Capitol, police body-camera videos and internal police radio recordings. Times lawyers joined other newsrooms in a court motion to unseal further evidence.
But the story doesn't come just from the videos. The reporting team exclusively obtained months of online posts and broadcasts documented by organizations who monitor extremism in America. The utterances of leaders among right-wing groups gave us insights to their planning and preparations, and helped us identify people of interest as we sifted through the media. We created a database of protesters and rioters, quickly established that people attended from all 50 states, and from social media we documented their ride shares and crowdfunding efforts. We interviewed witnesses, lawmakers, Capitol staff, and the police. We spoke to the Capitol architect about the breaches we identified to understand where those entry points led.
The assemblage and analysis of this considerable documentation is what sets Day of Rage apart. The filmmakers extracted forensic detail from this trove, placed it in context and provided the most vivid and complete picture to date of what happened, and why.
The film outlines the disinformation campaign by Trump and his allies that was spread on conservative media, fringe media and online, and which set the conditions for the violence that followed. It shows how Trump allies amped up their militant rhetoric on the eve of the Save America Rally as tens of thousands of Trump supporters gathered in the nation's capital. Viewers of the film hear how during the assault, rioters echo the same baseless claims peddled by Trump's allies in the days and weeks prior.
The film's deconstruction of the day itself establishes the potent mix of extreme groups among ordinary Trump supporters, many of whom came prepared for violence. Our reconstruction of the riot itself orients viewers as it explains when, where and how violence unfolded, revealing a domino effect that engulfed the building. The scale and synchronicity of the violence was not well understood prior to the release of Day of Rage.
So many cameras filmed the day that the documentary could be cinematically constructed with wide shots, medium shots and close-ups, as if it were directed with a crew. The film is graphic and high octane, but it is also punctuated by audiovisual moments of calm and discordance: glee when rioters achieve their goal, a Jeff Buckley song set against marauding rioters, the national anthem being sung. The film opens with Trump supporters reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, a scene conveying a patriotism that suffuses the event and sets up a day that will end in dramatic irony.
A precise 3-D model of the Capitol explains the real-world failings of police and intelligence agencies that refused to heed warnings, placing officers in harm's way. It shows the key junctures where rioters took the building and the feet and seconds that separated the mob from lawmakers and their staffers. The model also serves as a mechanism to pace the documentary, to step back and take in the magnitude of the event.
The documentary was directed, produced and edited entirely remotely in less than six months from the day of the Capitol attack. The New York Times felt this piece was of critical political importance amid attempts by some Republican lawmakers to whitewash the attack. In May, the Senate blocked an independent commission into the riot and on June 30, the day the film was released, the House would vote to establish or deny another congressional inquiry. The vote passed and a select committee was established.
Ultimately, this film shows the fragility of democracy.
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By what name was Day of Rage: How Trump Supporters Took the U.S. Capitol (2021) officially released in India in English?
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