Tonight: John Ridley examines what led up to the L.A. Riots in new doc, “Let It Fall”

ABC/Ryan Green(LOS ANGELES) — Ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Los Angeles Riots on April 29, Academy Award-winning screenwriter John Ridley is taking a deeper look into the series of events that led up to the violent incidents in his documentary Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982 – 1992.

Ridley, who admits his doc was ten years in the making, says he specifically focused on sharing the real life and jarring experiences of those who were present during those six days in the spring of 1992.

“We really wanted to have individuals who personally were involved in the decision-making processes or events that happened to themselves [or] their family members,” Ridley tells ABC Radio. “There are any number of moments where individuals that you see on screen are able to say things like, ‘And then, I did this,’ or ‘This happened to me,’ or ‘I picked up the phone and a family member was telling me, “Look you’ve got to come here right away because something is happening.'”

Ridley’s film also taps into the origins of the riots and the various events that let up to it. According to the director, the chokehold and use of the baton to subdue alleged perpetrators, were catalysts to the eventual uprising.

“We wanted to really look at a ten-year period prior to that so we start our story in 1982 with events, with incidents, with people, with communities that initially may not seem related to what the people call, ‘The Rodney King Riots’ — but they really are,” Ridley explains. “And that’s very important as well for people to understand, that what happened, it wasn’t just one night, it wasn’t just one thing — it was something that was built up over time.”

Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982 – 1992 airs tonight at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.

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