Waco - Zwischen Wahrheit und Wahnsinn

This event had great media coverage not just in the USA, in Portugal we had the opportunity to follow the siege on TV. I had 20 yo by that time, more or less the same age of most Branch Davidians, I followed it on the news and I can tell that this event stayed with me for all these years as one of the most dramatic and horrible things I have ever saw. I tried to watch the mini series but it´s not as gripping as this amazing documentary that doesn´t take sides and efficientely show us both sides with real people and real emotions and that can not be paired by any tv show. This is a great work from everyone involved and not an easy task for sure to bring up all of this memories with the survivors. Congratulations not just for the superior work but also for one thing that remains after two days of watching the doco, its a doubt...

What if?

10/10

When an apocalyptic cult arms themselves with a huge stockpile of automatic weapons, things are never likely to end well. Nonetheless, the siege of Waco, which ended in a terrible fire resulting in the death of David Koresh and sixt followers, might have turned out better, if not for the gung-ho attitude of the law enforcement agencies. That's the take home message from 'Waco: Madman or Messiah', a documentary which reconstructs the events with the aid of testimony from witnesses and survivors. In places it's repetitive, and it would have benefitted from the participation of more senior members of the authorities to justify their decision making - it feels as if that part of the story is missing. One thing that's amazing is that several of the latter remain faithful to their former leader, even though he seems to have been a monster with no conventionally redeeming qualities, beyond, of course, his claim to be God. The broader message is the tragedy of a highly-armed society: the United States has no monopoly on lunactics, but there is something uniquely American about this story.

This docuseries is eye-opening to just how cruel our government can be to its own citizens. I was child when the ATF wrongly invaded the home of David Koresh, so I was only aware of one side of the story. This show shares the other side, the side of the Branch Davidians, and reveals why these agencies felt the need to hide their wrong doings.

All of the ATF and FBI agents who fired weapons or used deadly force of any kind should be in jail. And that especially goes for the leadership. Both agencies need their funding completely cut. The events shown in these episodes clearly demonstrates their massive overreach and how these agencies work for their own power and not the American people.

While I don't agree with the beliefs of the Branch Davidians or even those the Christianity, this series provided insight into how this group thought and functioned. The story is very said, but I think it's an important one to tell.

I remember this event well, shocking story, and it is good to see a doco like this that sits on the fence (to a point). This doco shows lots of stuff I had not seen before and the interviews with survivors from both sides made this for captivating viewing.

I am a Christian and know the Bible well enough to see and know that David Koresh was a false prophet/messiah, any one that knows or has read the Bible will know that God warns us about wolves in sheeps clothing, and David Koresh was just another one of them. Anyone that follows some one that claims he/she is the second coming of Christ should look at that person and compare them to Jesus, Jesus would not have multiple sexual relationships, Jesus would not drive around in a classic American muscle car, and I can come up with so many other points to show David Koresh was just another conman.

Now besides David Koresh being a fake, it does not take away the FBI/ATF got this completely wrong, they are directly responsible for the murder of many people. Watch Waco: The Rules of Engagement, as that clearly shows that the FBI/ATF murdered many people. Now I get it, the government wanted to check their weapons, check if David Koresh was having relationships with under age girls, and I agree they should have looked into what was happening, but the way they went about their jobs was as bad as you can go about it, causing the death of many children and people that were fooled by a madman, including several government agents.

Overall this 2 part doco is well done and shows both sides of the story. 10 out of 10.

For some reason IMDB shows I gave it a 1, I gave it a 10 out of 10 and is worth watching if you want to see the truth about the madman and the mistakes the FBI/ATF made.

The film features the voice of David Koresh "Vernon Wayne Howell" taken from 247 FBI tapes recorded during the siege.

You can still see the site where plaques are showing where you're standing, as the chapel area, the men's dormitory, and the vault.

The presentation is a tad more inclusive or has time to cover more history of David to the point that is more of visual biography. Some scenes are portrayed by actors as there was no way to be there filming. We get the meaning of the name "David Koresh" (and how to pronounce it.)

We now go into sound bite mode with various presenters that give about 10 seconds of information accompanied sometimes by cartoons.

A pretty good consistent and concise presenter is dick J. Reavis, a reporter for the Dallas Observer. Showing that the ATF needed to have a raid so they would look good for funding purposes. So, they designed "Operation Trojan Horse." This is supported by Keith Constantino of the ATF Raid Team.

You can tell how it is going to go when the ATF indiscriminately shot the dogs before even being greeted. Reminds me of The Wicked Witch of The West "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!"

Yep, everything is playing out as predicted. Phil Arnold (Bible Scholar) offers FBI help and we know their response.

Things heat up then we see "Viewer discretion is advised." Naturally, a Branch Davidian was criticized for saving one of the dogs the FBI did not get a chance to shoot in the beginning.