Oklahoma City

"Oklahoma City" (2017 release; 115 min,) is a documentary about Timothy McVeigh's bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, and the wider background as to what roe him to do this. As the movie opens, it is "April 19, 1995, 9:02 am" and we her voices at the Water Resource Board Meeting, when an enormous explosion takes place. We get various historical footage as to the damage caused by the bombing, as well as first account interviews of first aid helpers, survivors, and family members of the perished, We then go back in time to the early 1980s, in northern Idaho, where white supremacists are gathering steam. As this point we're 10 min, into the movie, but to tell you more of the story would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is, to say the least, a sobering documentary, Built in three major chapters, "The Spark" (referring to Ruby Ridge), "The Flame" (referring to Waco) and "The Inferno" (referring to Oklahoma City), the documentary makers examine how right wing white supremacists were able to build a small but fierce resistance cell that becomes convinced that the federal government is "the enemy". The link between Ruby Ridge/Oklahoma City on the one hand, and Waco on the other hand, is less obvious (the Waco incident does not involve white supremacists), but nevertheless essential for the McVeigh narrative, as the documentary makes clear. McVeigh's personal background, fairly well known at this point, is examined as well. In the end, the lasting images of this documentary remain those of the Oklahoma City bombing itself, to this date still the largest domestic terrorist attack in this country's history, and with it the resolve of the survivors and the family of the perished. "Love is stronger than a terrorist attack", comments a survivor who has forgiven McVeigh. Wow.

This documentary played in a few theaters, but opened wide when it was shown on PBS' "The American Experience" last night. As it most often the case with programs on "The American Experience", the documentary was well researched, restrained and very sobering. A must-see for anyone interested in the history of this country.

I've seen all parts of this documentary before in other documentaries. But this was a nice retelling, having everything as straight as possible.

A lot of the other documentaries focused on him building the bomb and the evidence that it was him.

Such as the rental van being caught on camera etc.

They've kind of missed those bits out, which is fine because we all know he was guilty!

He admitted to it and was found guilty in court.

So it's no shock he was going to be found guilty.

His one misguided thought is that he assumed that his death would start another civil war... and it didn't!

The only thing that came out of all of this was Mcveigh being sentenced to death for targeting a building which housed an FBI office.

The guy was unhinged, but not enough so he didn't know what he was doing.

Let's hope he's nice and hot wherever he might be.

Anytime you have Abrahamic separatists zealots fighting the government that's been infested with Leftists(Clintons & Branch Davidians going head to head)children will be caught in between & end up losing their lives in most cases.

The children in Waco, nor the ones in Oklahoma City had to die. Thanks to unreasonable adults, both groups of children suffered & lost their lives. I was raised in an Abrahamic cult too, the J.W.'s(AKA Watchtower Bible & Tract Society). They always beat it into our brains as children "that everything the government does is from Satan" & "this World is Satanic too". And then my eldest sister's Leftist friends were always calling government folks "an evil that needs to be reigned in, we need to be more like Cuba & share with one another & less like Capitalist scum".

See neither side is right to a thinker(both groups are fifth column scums IMO), I'm sure that the J.W.'s would never go all Waco on anyone(they're controlling, but very cowardly), but it did feel like we were in Jonestown being forced to be part of their operation, they're not benign at all!

We were not allowed to have birthdays(I was made to sit in the hallway during birthday parties), holidays, participate in sports, no going to our proms or college either, also if you're in need of a blood transfusion forget about it, it's not allowed!

We also get genitally mutilated as kids(I hated that the most) it's a complete case of evil being inflicted on innocent children. I also got my *** kicked as a kid when when I got caught talking on the phone with a cute girl that was a none J.W., a totally insane group of people IMO & experience.

Now as an adult I want nothing to do with either group, I'm very middle of the road now & don't feel like losing my life over the aspirations of madmen. I only wish that whole situation didn't happen. Too many children get caught in the crossfire. Janet Reno, Bill Clinton & David Koresh were unable to see another's point of view.

That's at the root of most tragedies today, inflexible people that have no place in a modern society. We can make a better future for all of us if we choose rational thought over anti-life dogma!

25 mins in and still no mention of the main perpetrator. Instead of summarising what angered and motivated Timothy McVeigh to commit the crimes the producers want to give you a detailed backstory. Sheesh! It's history now, just spit it out already😡

I did live through Oklahoma City and remember it well, and I remember Ruby Ridge and Waco also. Ruby Ridge and Waco had nothing to do with Oklahoma City, and neither did the militia movement or white supremacist organizations. This documentary is little more than the official government story, a story orchestrated at the highest levels of the Justice Department and the White House, placing all of the blame upon a disillusioned ex-soldier and his loser Army buddies and ignoring the obvious presence of more sophisticated conspirators. The film barely mentions the existence of "John Doe #2" who actually DID mastermind the bombing. There was a nationwide manhunt for this person during the week after the bombing until the FBI decided that they had their man and no further suspects were being sought. We are supposed to believe that McVeigh was smart enough to plan this elaborate scheme and yet stupid enough to drive a getaway car without a license plate attached? The film completely ignores the pre-bombing trips to the Philippines that were taken by Terry Nichols and clear evidence that he was meeting there with Ramzi Yousef (the mastermind of the World Trade Center bombing in 1993). Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying McVeigh was innocent. He was in this conspiracy up to his eyeballs and he deserved to be convicted, but there were other conspirators higher up the food chain that got away, for purely political reasons. That is the real story of Oklahoma City.