"this really takes you on an emotional journey. Nothing is given away, letting you enjoy every twist and turn of this unbelievable true story"

‘Dirtiest Cop Ever’ was the headline the New York Post ran with in 1992 after the arrest of Michael Dowd, an NYPD cop who gained the respect of drug barons and crime lords in the 75th Precinct, Brooklyn.

His story is infamous and in the documentary Precinct Seven Five his tale is told in what has to be the most thrilling documentary I’ve seen in years.

Unlike most docs, this really takes you on an emotional journey. Nothing is given away, letting you enjoy every twist and turn of this unbelievable true story. With interviews from not just Dowds’ co-workers but from the mob bosses they worked with, this gives the audience a look into what was happening and offers some quite surprising opinion from gang leaders and NYPD alike.

I have never watched a documentary as if I was watching a thriller before. Here, one section after another will have you laughing at just how arrogant Michael is becoming, as his greed leads him into disaster as we gasp in shock at huge spoiler-like moments of betrayal and over how low Dowd has stooped.

The interviews are edited so the telling of the events happen in chronological order, therefore taking you on its dark roller coaster and doesn’t let your attention wane for a second.

With stock footage, real telephone calls, and various bits and pieces of evidence, the film has points where you feel like you’re on a jury judging the case for yourself. Director Tiller Russell really draws the audience in with suspense, which is again extremely surprising for a documentary.

The Seven Five is put together so well that it keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout: open-mouthed in shock and awe at every turn, with an ending as shocking as a George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones style plot twist. If you have a preconceived idea of documentaries being slow and uneventful, I urge you to see this as it’ll put those thoughts to the back of your mind and you will get swept away into a fantastic crime thriller.