L'assedio di Waco

"Waco: American Apocalypse" (2023 release; 3 episodes ranging 44 to 51 minutes each) is the latest reassessment of the events that took place 30 years ago in Waco, TX, leading to 90 deaths. As Episode 1 opens, we are immediately in the thick of things as the ATP is trying to execute on a search warrant at the Mount Carmel compound, where a religious cult led by David Koresh is living. Things go wrong from the get-go, and there is an enormous shootout between dozens of ATP agents and the religious cult... At this point we are 10 minutes into Episode 1.

Couple of comments: this is the latest from director Tiller Russell ("Night Stalker"). What could've been a thorough review of these tragic events, instead are brought with a shocking lack of details and context. We literally are given very few details as to the religious cult itself, why ATP decided to get a search warrant, and how exactly things went wrong. What we do get are talking heads who were there: several survivors from the cult, ATP and FBI agents, local TV reporters, lawyers, etc. The lack of coordination and communication within the FBI (the negotiators vs. The Hostage Rescue Team) is shocking. Not that the Branch Davidian folks are much better. Or as one talking head puts it: "Everybody in this touched the ball and fumbled." There are no winners. Back to the lack of details: at the end of the day that April 19, 1993, the mini-series concludes just like that. Not a single word about the YEARS of subsequent legal cases, all the way up to the Supreme Court. Also no information as to what became of the survivors that participated in this documentary. Wow, just wow. This documentary should be titled "Waco: American Tragedy", both as to the events that happened there and as to this mini-series.

"Waco: American Apocalypse" recently premiered on Netflix, and I watched all 3 episodes in a single setting last night. The mini-series isn't completely horrible, but it should have been so much better than this. Of course don't take my word for it so check it out and draw your own conclusion.

I was only a child when the OK bombing happened, on my birthday of all days. I had heard of Waco before, but didn't know the whole story or that the two were related.

This was a really tragic event, started by one side that was asking for trouble, but both sides are to blame for the outcome. The real tragedy is the kids. Everyone else had plenty of time to make their decision to stay or leave, but the kids are the real victims.

What's crazy about this doc is comparing it to society today. Thinking about how many others out there have the ability to manipulate others so much, that many of them would rather die than to look at their life choices and lack of logic, and change.

So many of these reviews are opinions of the events. Rate the quality of the film. I agree there will always be bias but if you reject the assumptions of the filmmakers - tell the reader why.. Dig a litter deeper with factual information. I enjoyed the doc for its access to source material - especially the interviews. The current era interviews, were to me what made this a good (and unique) documentary on what happened at Waco. Their stories now - so many years later - are enhanced by their aged perspectives and are compelling to hear. This was a tragedy on so many levels. My personal feelings about who are to blame are not compatible with the lens of the filmmaker. However, I appreciated this film and felt it was an important perspective worth viewing.

The 3-part documentary ultimately ends up being one more instance of religious extremism, juxtaposed with the failings of the FBI in handling such a situation. There are interviews with some of the survivors from the incident, but to listen to them (except one, who completely breaks down) justify it all in the name of religion makes me sick to my stomach. Is it so hard for those people to acknowledge that David Koresh was a monster? The law enforcement also messed up big time by conveying one thing over negotation-talks and the guys on the field doing the exact opposite. The eventual outcome? 80-something deaths. It'll always remain a dirty little stain in USA's history, especially for the state of Texas. For what it's worth, I'd have liked to know more about Koresh and his doings at the compound, which are only fleetingly mentioned.

As you can see from some of the reviews here, misinformation about Waco still abounds.

The warrant WAS to search for automatic weapons. Specifically semi-automatic weapons converted into machine guns. Such conversions are 100% illegal. Not only did the agents on the ground testify to hearing automatic weapons fire, so did the journalists present. This is also all in addition to them recovering automatic weapons after the fire.

Meanwhile another reviewer insists that if the Davidians had grenades that they would have exploded in the fire. I can only imagine this reviewer was simply not paying attention because 1) Footage of the initial shootout captured the sound of very loud explosions which were implied to be the grenades and 2) There WAS a very large explosion at some point during the fire. Even if those explosions and the large one during the fire could not be attributed to grenades, that doesn't mean the Davidians weren't attempting to construct them, which is all that the delivery driver's finding of an empty grenade hull actually ever implied.

The documentary also did very little to explore the issue of who fired first, despite there being an enormous amount of theories and speculation about this--both theories that the ATF did and to the contrary. It instead simply gives the benefit of the doubt to the ATF agents, which is pretty far from unbiased or definitive. Not even to suggest they're lying, they just could have been mistaken.

The one piece of information this documentary DID provide that's usually absent in many Waco documentaries is the audio recording of Davidian members discussing pouring fuel and distributing hay, which implies they were setting the fires. It also includes FLIR footage from helicopters which shows the flames beginning simultaneously at three different locations, which does not support theories suggesting the FBI HRT set the fires either intentionally or unintentionally.

Despite what you believe about what happened that day on Waco, this documentary takes the side of the government's explanation of the event, and I think it's unfortunate that it doesn't provide more substance to support that. It's not that I disagree with it, it's just that it spends much more time interviewing people who clearly have a stake in the matter and whose views can't be seen as impartial by any means, rather than reviewing cold hard facts, which are readily available.

Beyond that, it doesn't really give equal time to all those involved, and it seems to be unfairly weighted to make the HRT operation seem to be at fault for things going so badly. The Davidians were presented as religious fanatics who didn't know any better, the FBI negotiation team was presented as the only voice of reason involved, and the HRT was painted as simply a gungho force of overly aggressive soldiers who unnecessarily escalated things. Given what the documentary did show, it's hard not to agree with it, but considering that only ONE member of the HRT was interviewed, it feels pretty slanted and like there's much more to the story left out--and having watched many other Waco documentaries, I know there is.

Overall, I was pretty disappointed, especially given that this is a Netflix docuseries. With their propensity for turning small subjects into 8 episode installments of mind numbing minutia, it's really surprising that they dropped the ball so hard making only 3 episodes for this when SO many more facets of the event could have been explored. It just feels extremely incomplete and shallow, examining only the very surface of the event.

On the other hand, there is an abundance of never before seen footage, and what's more some footage that's been seen before with this level of video quality. They really knocked it out if the park as far as collecting and presenting stock footage, creating visual representations of what happened, etc. But unfortunately the actual informative quality seemed to suffer because of that.

The best I can say for it is that it's phenomenal supplemental footage to other information that's already available. The worst I can say is that it's very shallow and biased in its dissemination of information about the event. Overall, worth a watch, but by no means comprehensive.