Down A Dark Stairwell aims to humanize a polarizing incident by offering an intimate and gripping account of Akai Gurley’s life and untimely death. In the fall of 2014, Peter Liang, a Chinese-American police officer, shot and killed Gurley, an innocent and unarmed Black man, in a dark stairwell of a Brooklyn apartment building. A celebration of Gurley’s life anchors the film as it ventures out to explore the complex ways both men suffered at the hands of an unjust criminal justice system. While the film does a good job providing key details about Gurley’s and Liang’s lives leading up to their intersection, it’s the examination of the aftermath, in which two marginalized communities react to the tragedy, that provides the most commanding commentary on the racism embedded in law enforcement agencies. Relevant, if at times reserved in its condemnation of Liang’s actions, Down A Dark Stairwell is worth watching.