In 1981, Philadelphia policeman Daniel Faulkner was shot to death during an altercation with reporter Mumia Abu-Jamal's brother William, an altercation interrupted by the reporter. Abu-Jamal was subsequently convicted of murder and sentenced to die, despite protests of his innocence from a growing number of people. In the intervening years, Abu-Jamal has resumed journalism, writing from death row. He has also become a worldwide symbol of racial injustice in America, although whether he is an appropriate symbol is left undetermined by this elusive documentary, a shorter version of which ran as an HBO special in 1996. Despite the question mark in the title, it's clear early on that this will not be a hard-hitting attempt to find the truth of the matter. Much, much more attention is given to the case for Abu-Jamal's innocence than to the case against him. While much of this evidence is compelling, raising doubts as to whether justice was served—and, to his credit, director John Edgington does cast doubt on one obvious crackpot "witness"—all of it would be considerably more credible had the film included opposing opinions, perhaps using both arguments to work toward an objectively formed reconstruction of the crime. (As it is, no mention is even given to what happened to Abu-Jamal's brother.) Almost as frustrating as the movie itself is Abu-Jamal: Obviously an intelligent and articulate man, he has refused, from 1981 to the present, to give his account of the events of the night, describing only his impressions in what the film describes as "surreal, almost abstract prose." That this prose sounds like a paranoiac's fantasy doesn't help matters, nor does the amount of time dedicated to Abu-Jamal's discussion of the difficulty of life on death row—a fact that's irrelevant to the matter of his guilt or innocence. There may be a very good, reasonable argument for a miscarriage of justice in Abu-Jamal's case—especially considering that, even if he is guilty, the label of first-degree murder seems inappropriate—but that argument is not made here. All involved should have had a good look at Errol Morris' The Thin Blue Line and checked their consciences before trying to pass this off as investigative journalism.