Directed by William Gazecki

In this controversial documentary, William Gazecki probes the official government story surrounding the 1993 Waco massacre, in which FBI troops attacked the Texas HQ of a religious cult, the Branch Davidians, in which 70 men, women and children were killed in the process. The confrontation began when agents of the BATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms), a federal agency, attacked the Davidian compound and the cultists responded by firing in self-defence, killing some agents. Koresh was badly wounded in the confrontation. There followed a 51-day siege controlled by the FBI, which culminated in the destruction by fire of the compound, a conflagration which official reports suggested was started by the Davidians themselves but which the film suggests was deliberately started by the law enforcers. Testimony of cult survivors, video tapes of Koresh and some other doomed Davidians, testimony by local journalists and police, and footage of the Senate hearings that followed the tragedy are included in Gazecki's quite fascinating film, which adds up to a disturbing picture of government overkill resulting in an appalling loss of life.

If the film is to be believed, the Branch Davidians were a harmless if controversial group of religious zealots, exercising their rights under the First Amendment, who were singled out for attention by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms for offences, real or contrived, involving the possession of firearms. The ATF hoped by raiding the group to repair its tarnished image. What began as a misguided raid turned into a spectacularly mishandled tragedy. Admittedly the film is partisan, but no more so than the official government position and it becomes clear that much of the evidence surrounding the incident has been impounded by the FBI. This is a bold and incendiary piece of filmmaking.