Coming Home JDiff review: Touching documentary about a man who spent 13 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit

Angel Cordero in Viko Nikci’s touching and humane documentary, Coming Home
Angel Cordero in Viko Nikci’s touching and humane documentary, Coming Home
Coming Home
    
Director: Viko Nikci
Cert: Club
Genre: Documentary
Starring: Angel Cordero
Running Time: 1 hr 26 mins

Viko Nikci's terrific, humane take on a miscarriage of justice and its incomplete resolution was a deserved winner of best Irish documentary at the 2013 Galway Film Fleadh. Produced by Samson Films, the picture treats its subjects with great sensitivity while lucidly talking us through a complex story.

After 13 years’ incarceration for a murder he didn’t commit – we see the real culprit own up on camera – Angel Cordero, a charismatic New Yorker, emerges and attempts to connect with the woman he married in prison and make amends with his teenage daughter. There are also alterations in the wider world to be processed.

Coming Home occasionally loses focus as it tries to tell each of Angel's intertwined stories, but this remains a touching study of a decent, impressively balanced individual. Laced with hip-hop, crisply shot on busy streets, the film has specific lessons about the inflexibility of the justice systems and more universal ones about the fragility of our comfortable lives. A fine piece of work.

Donald Clarke

Donald Clarke

Donald Clarke, a contributor to The Irish Times, is Chief Film Correspondent and a regular columnist