The Siege at Ruby Ridge

The following review reveals parts of the plot.

This movie showed that federal agents had what it took to shoot a 14-year-old boy in the back, gun down his pet dog, and snipe a woman holding a baby. The incident should sow "dissent" not the movie. If you can watch an incident like Ruby Ridge occur and still feel the system is great than you better take a good look at yourself.

Although Mr. Weaver and his family were extremists in some of their beliefs, they were and those of them that are still alive are still American citizens. And as such, they have certain inalienable rights. Rights wrongfully denied to them, such as trial by jury not a government death squad. In both real event and the movie, the federal agents illegally altered the rules of engagement and basically tried to avoid negotiations until they had to negotiate. They employed a shoot first and well there were no questions later. Being told that they "can and should shoot on sight any armed adult". There was no distinction made between armed adults walking around or armed adults pointing guns and federal agents. Just shoot on sight any armed adult.

However in the end justice was partly done in that Mr. Weaver and his friend were acquitted. Mr. weaver received roughly 3 million dollars in a settlement with the government. But those trigger-happy federal agents were never brought to justice.

Remember that federal agents have extensively more training when compared to local and state law enforcement agents. And as seen in the movie, federal not state or local law enforcement agents committed these heinous and atrocious acts. People with high levels of training, and they claim that they aren't to blame. They wrongfully and unconstitutionally altered rules of engagement. In essence declaring open season and giving their agents hunting licenses.

This movie or more so the criminal act committed by the government against the weavers shows/showed how much the government respects/ed its citizens and their alleged rights.

I don't normally express my views or opinions about fact based movies, but the subject matter of this particular film "The Siege at Ruby Ridge" moved me. Having not paid attention to the events of Ruby Ridge at the time, to my shame, I was curious enough on a Sunday afternoon to watch the movie. At the end of the film I was convinced that either the writers and producers were overly biased towards the Weaver family and were attempting to stir up the general population with their interpretation of the siege, or, and more disturbing, the movie was a true representation. After a few hours of research I was able to conclude that the scenes accurately portrayed events with a minimal amount of poetic license. The actors were emotional and convincing and I grieved with them.

I count myself as among the conservative, (mostly) sheltered, white collar Americans, comfortable in the daily concept of living in a free democracy, protected by our constitution, and generally content with life. A highly emotional, fact based movie like this is powerful enough in it's content to shatter that illusion. And while I choose to believe that the events outlined in the movie were the sad tragic results of a huge (but hopefully unintentional) error in judgment by an imperfect government, the concern that it might not have been...lingers.....

A poster here said the government screwed up but it wouldn't have had happened if the Weavers weren't politically incorrect in their beliefs. That is totally BS. Have you heard of something called the bill of rights? Just because the Weavers were fanatically about some things ( some I agree with, some I don't) does not give the US government any right to murder his wife, his sons and even their dog. Maybe you should leave Ohio and go back to the Soviet Union,etc where the government welcomes your oppressive anti-free speech regime and holds the victims responsible for the evil things the government does. If it can happen to the Weavers and those at Waco, it can happen to any and all of us. Shame on you.

Rot in hell to the lowlife sniper( of Chinese, etc descent, not that matters much because he still be a murdering scumbag if he was White) that murdered Randy's wife, sons and dog.

Forgive but never Forgot when the US government became the Gestapo in 1992 Iowa and 1993 Texas. As for Randy being a "white supremacist", that is not a crime, nor does it make one a terrorist or a criminal, unless you support the ADL/SPLC Nazi-like thought crime BS.

Lionel Chetwynd's creative writing about this supposedly "True Story" is rivaled only by Stephen King. Of course the American public knows only what the mainstream news spouts and what is portrayed in this "Van Gogh" of TV Docu-Dramas. Therefore, they don't know the difference between the facts about Randy Weaver and the Ruby Ridge incident, and what some establishment based writer, director and producer want us to believe. Of course the network that "Seige At Ruby Ridge" aired on, wanted the public to see ONLY what they're newscasts portrayed. Not necessarily the actual TRUE events that really happened. I would suggest reading Randy Weaver's own account of what he and his family were put through at the hands of over zealous Government Agents in his book. According to people who were actually at Ruby Ridge, the only similarities between the TV movie and what really happened was that the names of the characters were spelled correctly. Of course the main story line was somewhat factual. However, any more than Randy Quaid having the same first name as Randy Weaver leaves it very loose on the facts. Therein, all of the actors and actress' should have done their own research about the character they were to play. I've met and talked personally with Randy Weaver and found him to be NOTHING like he was portrayed by Mr. Quaid. I wouldn't mind having THE REAL Randy Weaver as my neighbor anywhere, anytime. They can keep the racist nutball they tried to make him out to be.

To my everlasting embarrassment as an American citizen, the stark injustice of the Ruby Ridge Incident somehow initially slipped by me. For some reason, it took the Waco Massacre to open my eyes and make me realize that our suddenly and scarily militarized police agencies--both federal and local--had but one enemy, and it was us. Although this progression has continued through the tragedy of 9/11, which just happened to give our legislators the perfect excuse to pass laws that shredded our inalienable Constitutional protections, a disappointingly small number of citizens seemed to have grasped what is going on.

That's why although the albeit imperfect "Siege of Ruby Ridge" is far from a great historical drama, it may well be an important one. If it smacks just a handful of still-clueless citizens over the head, it will be worth people's time.

I was actually surprised at how much this film got right. Certainly it was true that Vicki Weaver was the driving force behind the apocalyptic beliefs in the family. Despite his portrayal in the movie, Randy Weaver was far from a dim, subservient religious follower of Vicki, and he would not leave the major decisions regarding his family's fate to his traumatized young daughter. My main complaint would be the over-the-top portrayal of the Weaver family as obnoxious, bible-thumping, jackbooted Neo-NAZI wingnuts. Sharpening their tongues in preparation to lie about the Davidians and David Koresh, the national media did their best to simply repeat all federal agency statements that portrayed the Weavers as just the kind of neighborhood family that needs to be lined up and shot. The Weavers were far from the typical American family, but they were American citizens with the right to be left alone--a fact which the media conveniently chose to ignore.

There is a documentary film about this incident that centers on a grown-up and very appealing Rachael Weaver, along with commentary from the still irascible Randy, called "Legend of Ruby Ridge." Hearing Rachael fondly reminisce about her childhood on that mountain (which she now owns), makes the movie version seem downright ludicrous.