I watched a documentary on Encore True Stories (I think that's what the channel is called) about the Waco incident in 1993. I wrote a review of the film, and I'm posting it here...
Waco: The Rules of Engagement
First off- the documentary is entertaining. Not sure if that's a good thing or not, since it's such a serious matter.
There seem to be some huge screwups with ATF and FBI, and there are many contradicting stories. Too many different stories from too many different people to possibly ever know the complete truth.
This movie seems to be very biased to paint the picture that Koresh wasn't brainwashing his people, that he was generally an okay guy who didn't do anything wrong- you don't get both points of view in this film. They also attack the ATF and FBI a lot, but don't seem to show the point of view supporting these agencies...only showing the supporters in the congressional hearings. Like I said, the film is very biased in this sense, so it makes it hard to get a complete picture of the entire situation. Showing all the evidence, not just from the side attacking ATF would have been helpful.
Also- during phone calls, I noticed that there is text on the screen many times that no one even speaks- a big mistake like is telling overall...in that, how can I sit here and trust all the evidence the filmmakers put forward, if they can't even accurately transcribe a phone call between negotiators and Koresh? When I noticed these mistakes, it, of course, made me wonder about all the rest of the "facts" put forward in the film.
No doubt Koresh was an unstable individual- there's evidence from many that he had sexual relations with children, he talks about his many "wives" and "children" when interviewed by other davidian members, he claims to be a final prophet of God...all of that points to a man who is not all there. And the fact that a religious sect has stockpiles of weapons (even if they did go to gun shows and tradeshows) is extremely creepy, and to me- that points to danger.
It seems most likely that both sides are wrong here. Members of the davidians did not have a right to shoot at ATF law enforcement agents, and ATF and FBI had no right to contradict themselves, and report things that were not true (the spokesman says that its unlikely that they used psychological tactics, such as loud music and bright lights, to agitate members, when it's clear from press footage that that happened a number of times.) Also, some congressional panel members investigating the issue seemed to attack all evidence by the koresh side, and abusing them verbally unnecessarily. I can understand the bias one would have against a religious sect like this- since, it's so outside of the norm, but it seemed unfair in a lot of points for congressmen, law enforcement spokespersons, etc to jump on certain stataments that were made.
In the end, this film doesn't help any of us get to the bottom of the issue- it's too biased one way, and there are mistakes made that make it unclear what evidence they put forward is true, and what isn't. It's unreliable in those aspects, and that affects the overall integrity of the film in my opinion.
Posted by Josh at December 14, 2003 03:41 AM | TrackBack