Tread

I believe Marv 100%. I grew up in a small town of 1100 people and anyone who grew up in a similar town knows these good old boys clubs exist without a doubt. There are 3 or 4 familys in these small towns and if you cross them, they will have you excommunicated and isolated and do whatever they can to smear your name. Marv had an extreme reaction to such an experience for sure and it's terrible that he did so, but anyone trying to act like his story doesn't hold any water at all is fooling themselves. These people undoubtedly pushed him and now want to act like they were innocent little lambs in all of it. Not buying it.

When watching this very well 'crafted' documentary one question kept springing to mind....what about his long lost girlfriend...the one he loved so much..

Even though this is a gripping insight into a man and his fight against an unjust system it could have been perfected with some more 'unbiased' interviews from family and friends...in the end this docu slanted towards 'he was mad..' but I believe he wasn't...

even in a grown up society where we should all be able to thrive, the bullies still exist.. And Marvin Heemeyer fell victim to this...and to his own demons..

Watch it....

Greetings again from the darkness. If not so tragic, this story might fit best in Ripley's Believe it or Not. What better description is there for a small town welder who builds an armored bulldozer, weaponizes it, and then takes it on a rampage of revenge, destroying the buildings, homes, and businesses of those he believe 'wronged' him? This actually happened in Granby, Colorado in 2004, and that welder's name was Marv Heemeyer.

Filmmaker Paul Solet begins the film with a recording of a 911 call and news clips of the actual events of June 4, 2004. Solet then proceeds to lay out the backstory of Heemeyer, and how things escalated to the point where destruction and suicide seemed like the only logical step to him. Solet cleverly utilizes Heemeyer's own self-recording (via audio cassette) as a framing structure for the film. Heemeyer's voice tells us what his plan was, and why he had reached this level of desperation.

Interviews are key, and we hear from law enforcement officers who were on the scene that day, Heemeyer's ex-girlfriend Trisha MacDonald, his best friend, a younger man from his snowmobile club, brothers from a family that had supposedly targeted Marv, and a newspaper reporter, Patrick Brower, who also wrote a book on Heemeyer's rampage. Actual news clips and reenactments are used to show us what those being interviewed tell. In this case, it's an effective approach.

It's particularly interesting to hear that Marv was mostly a likable guy who just bumped up against local town and county politics a couple of times. Marv was not part of the 'good old boys club' and admits to needing to "teach a lesson" to those he perceived has gone out of the way to make life difficult for him. His bulldozer was a way for him to dole out the justice that was otherwise going unserved.

This is a story of revenge told in a somewhat sympathetic manner towards Marv Heemeyer, a man who considered himself "an American Patriot." The audio tape is clearly a confession of what he planned (and later carried out), and it was clear he knew this was a suicide mission. Listening to his rants, we assume some form of mental illness was involved, and his best friend describes him as a man who 'spent too much time alone."

The video clips of the carnage, and of the many law enforcement officials on the scene - all of whom were helpless to stop the bulldozer - are captivating and difficult to watch. Fortunately, after the fact, we know that no one died that day other than the man who was responsible. Marv, a man of "righteous anger", had his day of serving justice and rare 'Bulldozer Rampage' headline knocked off the front page one day later by a much bigger story.

I don't know if what the man said about the people in the city was true, partly true or not true at all. These small cities owned by mostly one family are known to yield a lot of power. If it is true or partly true, what this man was saying, it just shows us that hurting people has consequences. I tend to believe what the man is saying was partly to mostly true.

It is a shame that our courts and laws do not protect us from people in power being able to take advantage of another.

With great power comes great responsibility!

This documentary probably doesn't begin to tell the reality of both sides that came to a tragic head when Marv Heemeyer enacted the ultimate "payback". To truly get a picture of what the dynamics at play were we need to have some more folks who knew Marv and have his backstory meticulously fleshed out. Why not? The whole film rides on Marv's final actions so shouldn't we be more privy to his life up until this point? I'm looking to wholly and not coincidently explain how this all came to be.

Anyway, Hollywood loves revenge movies as we all know. Strange as it seems when it is real it is something to absolutely loathe, especially in the case of a man who unprovoked would have just been a "muffler store" owner.

Perspective-wise: no one was injured and only the protagonist died by his own hand. That is still tragic but we all know if this is wholly despicable or not depends on how band Marv was truly treated. That is the flaw here as I just do not find enough even-handed research to shed light on everything the led up to Marv's final, seemingly quite clear-headed, reality break (he wasn't a Blues Bro., but he felt he was on a mission if you follow).

See this. It is a sociology fiasco of unparalleled proportions. It might have been more deadly and it is quite fortunate it wasn't. As such it is a study in human behavior the viewer may well hunger for a more in-depth explanation.