"Brick City" is an enthralling five-part documentary

The state that's served as the setting for Bruce Springsteen's most poignant songs and Tony Soprano's most thuggish behavior once could declare that it boasted the most livable city in United States. No more. Forty years of political corruption, suburban flight, gang warfare and racial fights turned Newark into something close to an urban wasteland. The capital needs a comeback as much as its beloved Nets.

"Brick City," an enthralling five-part documentary that debuts Monday on the Sundance Channel, captures those efforts with a leading man who could have come straight out of a Hollywood cattle call. But the city's athletically built, articulate Mayor Cory Booker faces a challenge as daunting as Denzel Washington in any action thriller. His struggle to cut through red tape, while lifting the spirits of a desperate community, is at the heart of this ambitious project that attempts to echo Booker's 2006 campaign mantra: "Change is a political slogan, but it's really hard work."

"That's what really inspired us to do this," said co-director Marc Levin. "How do you show what change is in real people's lives? It's a long road to reverse 40 years of history, not just Newark's, but all over this country."

In many ways, the film serves as a companion piece to HBO's "The Wire," the most riveting series in TV history for the way it depicted bureaucracy as a more daunting villain than J.R. Ewing. But producers are quick to point out that the two projects don't share the same tone. While "The Wire," set in Baltimore, left you feeling like it was time to flee the big city and move into a tepee in the desert, "Brick" offers its fair share of optimism, from the downturn in homicides in Newark to a moving relationship between members of rival gangs. One producer described it as "The Wire" with a touch of "The West Wing."

"I think the cornerstone of the difference between the two is hope," said executive producer Forest Whitaker, the actor who grew up in South Central Los Angeles and went on to win an Oscar for his work in "The Last King of Scotland." "I think you are seeing a holistic approach, which is all these different people from different walks of life, driven by one particular thought, moving forward and recognizing that they are in this together."

That revelation wouldn't have been possible if the show's central characters hadn't opened their doors to the filmmakers. In the past, Newark wasn't exactly known for its open-door policy. But Police Director Garry McCarthy said he had no problem letting cameras track him for nearly three years, even if he is a bit embarrassed by the amount of swearing the directors heard from his lips.

"I believe in the righteousness of what we're doing. We're literally saving lives," he said. "I'm very, very involved in that belief, and therefore, access is easy for me."