Waco: American Apocalypse

In 1997, William Gazecki made a powerful documentary that put together a strong case for saying that the FBI bore responsibility for the fire that killed the Branch Davidians. Was he right? I don’t know. But here, there is no attempt to really answer any of the major questions about what happened and why. Revisiting these events 30 years later just to present a “slice of history”, without acknowledging previous attempts to actually gather evidence and come to conclusions, just doesn’t cut it.

80% of Netflix docuseries have to many episodes. 19% are just right. This is the first time i actually think they didn't include enough. It needed more than 3 people giving their 15 second take on who started the fires in the house. Also seeing a 60 something year old lady 30 years removed from being there claiming its ok for Koresh to have sex with girls 12 and up is wild. Absolutely wild.

I'm not sure why I always forget the details of Waco until I watch or read something about it again. What an absolute tragedy. This doc has some great access and interesting talking heads, and does this story justice.

Gave up 30 mins in during the awful 'fallen hero' nationalist music video for the trigger-happy incompetent police. An especially odd moment as until this point, the only revelations of wrongdoing have come from the establishment police/news voices. A typically over-produced US documentary with so much visual and sound effects layered on top, it's difficult to tell where the information ends and the disinformation begins. John McLemore's Alan Partridge style commentary is amusing at least.

A good overview of the siege, the three 45-min episodes fly by. Perhaps too quickly even, as you feel some information needs to be expanded upon (or left out altogether), not least the many still-valid accusations of official misconduct. There’s a nice array of contributors - and frank admissions of the lack of communication between agencies are welcome - but you definitely feel it slants towards the government’s explanation of events. I don’t think we’ll ever know what truly happened here.

Wacko: America's Deluded