It includes segments covering the perspective of Black Lives Matter protesters, community leaders, and members of the Baltimore Police Department.

Colonel Melvin Russell, head of a community affairs program in the BPD; Detective Dawnyell Taylor, the lead police investigator into the death of Gray;[2] and interim police commissioner Kevin Davis, who came to his position shortly after Gray's death.

Melanie McFarland of Slate praised the documentary, writing it accurately communicated the "systemic and entrenched" problems on both sides: police who feel unsafe, retreat to their cars, and see everyone as potentially dangerous suspects, which furthers the alienation felt by the community and by the activists.

[5] Hank Steuver of The Washington Post called Baltimore Rising simultaneously fascinating, scattered, and frustrating.

He felt that this reflected the disorganized nature of the protests and the difficulties with channeling grievances into useful systemic change, however, so the frustration was authentic and accurate to the source material.