Shazaaaam's comment is on point - though in addition to Haggis, you really have to mention David Simon, this is another great piece of writing from him.
Show Me a Hero is a less-known HBO mini-series from David Simon (The Corner, The Wire, Generation Kill, Treme), starring Oscar Isaac (passed master at playing defeated protagonists) as the sometime mayor of Yonkers, New York, who got caught up a housing crisis during his terms on the City Council in the late 80s and early 90s. Basically, the town initially refused to approve public housing in an affluent neighborhood despite a court order, which manifested as an ugly civil rights battle much closer in time than most (at least until we get to the even uglier 2010s). As with any Simon script, the city is the main character and so we follow not just the mayor but several poor women who will one day have to move to the public housing. There's an irritating imbalance in Show Me a Hero. The front half has a clear focus in municipal politics, so the women's stories seem to barge in, irrelevant. In the back half, the table turns, and you resent the pathetic former mayor and want to see more of the women and their struggle to integrate in an antagonistic neighborhood. I don't suppose there was any other way to tell the story, but regardless, it does end on a powerful note.
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GruesomeTwosome
Shazaaaam's comment is on point - though in addition to Haggis, you really have to mention David Simon, this is another great piece of writing from him.Siskoid
Show Me a Hero is a less-known HBO mini-series from David Simon (The Corner, The Wire, Generation Kill, Treme), starring Oscar Isaac (passed master at playing defeated protagonists) as the sometime mayor of Yonkers, New York, who got caught up a housing crisis during his terms on the City Council in the late 80s and early 90s. Basically, the town initially refused to approve public housing in an affluent neighborhood despite a court order, which manifested as an ugly civil rights battle much closer in time than most (at least until we get to the even uglier 2010s). As with any Simon script, the city is the main character and so we follow not just the mayor but several poor women who will one day have to move to the public housing. There's an irritating imbalance in Show Me a Hero. The front half has a clear focus in municipal politics, so the women's stories seem to barge in, irrelevant. In the back half, the table turns, and you resent the pathetic former mayor and want to see more of the women and their struggle to integrate in an antagonistic neighborhood. I don't suppose there was any other way to tell the story, but regardless, it does end on a powerful note.Shazaaaam
A slow burn of a show that builds huge emotional power by its end. It's like a six-hour apology from Haggis for his hamfistedness in Crash.