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The Village Voice June 17, 1997 Waco: The Rules of Engagement By J. Hoberman Timothy McVeigh may never take the opportunity to explain himself to a jury of his peers, but William Gazecki's two-hour-plus documentary Waco: The Rules of Engagement makes it amply apparent why the siege of the Branch Davidians has become the militia movement's Alamo. Emphasizing the constitutional aspects of the case, while making use of the evidence in the public record (a postmodern mix of home videotapes, recorded 911 calls, infrared surveillance footage, and congressional hearings televised over C-SPAN) this cinematic legal brief is a convincing, indeed devastating, argument against the FBI. Waco traces the history of the Branch Davidians back to the 1930s, locating them in the local history of Waco, and explaining (too briefly) the violent conflict that resulted in David Koresh's splinter group. The filmmakers seem disinclined to analyze the impact of Koresh's strident preaching--his millennial pronouncements and us-and-them world view--on his followers. Similarly, Waco takes as unremarkable the distinctively Texan form of Christianity that seems rooted in gun-show culture. If Waco ultimately documents a small band of armed zealots besieged by an army of better-armed, less responsible and even stupider zealots; the final attack on the Davidian compound is as apppauling as it is gripping. © 1997 Village Voice

 



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