In the Line of Duty: Ambush in Waco

This is quite a good movie, even though I remember it being started while the siege was still underway. The tension ratchets up throughout as we see Tim Daly do an excellent job as David Koresh ruling over his acolytes, alternately bullying and charismatic. He gives a convincing portrayal of a "sinful messiah" which certainly raised concerns in the straight-laced Baptist community of Waco, Texas. This is what initially attracted the attentions of various law enforcement agencies.

The interest of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is piqued, but never fully explained, as it is to this day. Both sides are then set on a course that ultimately leads to violence, leading up to the climactic attack of the Branch Davidian compound, which caps and concludes the movie. The siege and its fiery conclusion are not seen.

The movie doesn't portray Koresh as a frothing at the mouth religious fanatic but as a true believer in what he says. Thus, the viewer is left with the ambiguous feeling that he may not have deserved his fate. The ATF agents are never fleshed out and we don't feel any real sympathy for their deaths. We end up not totally understanding why this tragedy occurred, which is exactly how we felt then, as now.

Several up and comers appear in this film, including Neil McDonough (Band of Brothers and Medical Investigations) and NYPD Blue's Gordon Clapp. Lewis Smith is wasted as one of the slain ATF agents.

There is no denying that Tim Daly's performance is stunning. But, it would seem that he was the only person working on this cartoonish debacle who did any research.

Now, what we have here is a question of motive. Why did they make this film without any access to the facts? (After all, the film was in post production before the siege was over) Were they making art? No. Were they documenting the truth? No. They didn't know what the truth was at that time. Were they trying the save the ATF from budget cutting and possible disbandment? I'll put my vote on yes.

This is a dangerous piece of propaganda, which holds murderers up as heroes, and displays people who are defending themselves as psychos.

Oh, and where was the scene where the FBI agents opened fire on the women and children who were hiding in the kitchen area to protect themselves from the CS gas? In fact, where was the CS gas?

I certainly don't support a lunatic like David Koresh at all. However this film is about an important true event in American history, in terms of law enforcement and human rights. This film is a totally biased propaganda film that entirely ignores the errors of every American government agency involved. This was obviously funded to some degree for the very purpose of their public image. It is an insult to truth. It is an insult to the viewer. It is an insult to the American public. It is an insult to the foreign public. It is an insult to humankind. Is there anyone else I can say it's an insult to? This is bottom of the barrel stuff. Whatever happened to admitting your mistakes and learning from them? Would it be so bad if they admitted their errors? If children covered up their mistakes with pure lies like this film does. Most parents would certainly have a big talk with, or even punish them for such things. And this is the behaviour of the most powerful government in the world. Absolutely ridiculous! Anyone who researches this event, or watched it unfold knows that this film is a biased load. This is the exact kind of ammunition that crazed idiots like Koresh use to trick vulnerable people into believing that their government is not to be trusted. With such ignorant public propaganda. It really makes you wonder how corrupt some American government agencies are. With this kind of stuff out there, it is also not much of a wonder that the U.S. has become such a distrusted country around the world. This film makes me mad, and it makes me sick. It also makes me wonder if the government could possibly hire any dumber public relations gurus than the ones who came up with the idea to fund this garbage.

0/10

If you want to know the truth about what really happened in Waco, TX between February 28th, 1993 and April 19th, 1993, this IS NOT the film to see. The writers claimed at the movie's beginning that this film was a result of "extensive research" concerning what happened, yet there is hardly any truth in nearly every scene in this film. It not only is a villification of David Koresh and the Branch Davidians but also a portrayal of the AFT as "brave heroes" who risked their lives so as to protect society from these dangerous lunatics. It fails to mention the point that the only reason that the AFT made the raid in the first place was because they had budget hearings pending and they needed a good publicity coup for those hearings.

The only error this film makes concerning the February 28th raid that is worth mentioning here is the fact that it omits the role of the helicopters in the raid. Anyone who has studied the facts of the raid knows that it was the helicopters who fired the first shots when they straffed the building. It was also one of the helicopters that, when making a straffing pass over the building, fired the shots the killed Peter Gent as he was climbing from out of the water tower. In this film, the Davidians (including some late-middle aged women) are shown to ambush the AFT as they approached the front door. It was too bad that millions of people formed their opinion concerning Koresh, his followers and the entire Waco incident from this piece of trash.

If someone really wants to know the truth of both Koresh and his followers and the entire incident from beginning to end, the best references are the books "The Ashes of Waco: An Investigation" by Dick J. Reavis and "A Place Called Waco" by David Thibodeau. Also, the video "Waco: The Rules of Engagement" is a excellent piece of documentary film making.

This slip-shod piece of government propaganda was rushed to production before the final fire killed over 75 men, women and children. Although the disclaimer at the beginning of the film claims it was thoroughly researched, the stereotypes in which the characters were portrayed were comical, if not tragic misrepresentations. Filled with downright lies, the writer of this garbage later apologized to the surviving members and the families of those lost for his role in perpetuating the horrible myths surrounding David Koresh and his followers. (See David Thibodeau's _A Place Called Waco_, page 207 and writer Phil Penningroth's own "Righting Waco: Confessions of a Hollywood Propagandist" available at http://www.killingthebuddha.com/dogma/righting_waco.htm) This piece does play a role in the history of the standoff, as a clear example of the dead wrong information surrounding the standoff and raid. Therefore, take it with a grain of salt.