Waco: Madman or Messiah

Well,ive seen a few docus evolving the waco incident,and ive been quite shocked every time, but this docu were just explosive,very informational,two sided if not even more sided.whats true i shall not tell,but as a documentary it is chillingly well constructed,the use of music enticing,and the way everybody were able to speak for themselves,amazing.do whatch it if you dare,its a thrilling true happening......after all.....

The producers went to great lengths to condemn the Davidians, repeating many of the falsehoods and smears that were used to initiate this debacle in the first place but they also try hard to be sympathetic to the children.

Not once did they seem to seem to question the principle concern with this event - The government invented a reason to raid this group of people and then they shot them and burned them alive and for what?

The government deployed a troop of M2 Bradely Armoured Fighting Vehicles, AFV's against a bunch of families, helicopters, snipers, about a battalion sized element of government agents against a bunch of bible bashing families who appeared to have been no danger to anyone.

About the only genuine crime that seems to have been carried out by Koresh was that he may have had improper relations with teenage girls. Why on earth then was he not arrested and tried before a jury of his peers? When did raiding a property, shooting first, bringing in tanks and burning them all alive become a proportional response?

Meandering mess with an aimless narrative that finds you losing interest too easily. There is some insight but it's far too loose to be truly gripping.

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.

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