A filmmaker begins to make a documentary memorializing his murdered friend. During the process the film maker discovers that his friend's ex-girlfriend, the woman who murdered him, is pregnant with his baby. This of course changes the tone of the film from being a private memorial to being a document of a father's life so his orphaned son can get to know the man.

This film has a strong hook, there is no denying it. Director Kurt Kuenne is very aware of the emotional punch the premise of his film carries and he wields it bluntly. Kuenne is careful to show his murdered friend David Bagby in a good light. There's plenty of shots of David smiling and being friendly. I obviously can't fault Kuenne for this since this is a memorial after all. But, the film slips into being manipulative. Bagby's life is summed up into brief moments of polished happiness, buttressed by a long litany of friends and family who smile when they remember his antics. The guy may have been a fantastic fella but after thirty minutes of hearing how wonderful he is, it gets a little thick. Bagby was, of course, a human and was therefore flawed. The film claims to be an examination into the dead man as means of introducing him to his son. I don't think it would have been appropriate to trash the guy as a means of making him more "real" but every life has its faults, its mistakes bother humorous and huge. My point is that flavoring his biography with these would have given him more depth than simply being a patron saint of WASPs.

The film's real meaty part is Bagby's murder and the dramatic events that follow. His murderer flees the United States and hides out in Canada. The Canadian Government then shields the killer and makes a relationship between the baby and the mourning grandparents darn near impossible. The cruelty of the Canadian Government is on full display in this film and the bureaucratic nightmare that makes up the soul of that terrible regime is shown for all of its dehumanizing coldness. Most Americans see Canada as a land of Bob and Doug McKenzie losers who don't produce much and whine a lot about their loser status in the world. There's not a good deal of respect. What most Americans fail to realize is that Canada has been overrun by bureaucratic liberals who have turned the place into a tight fisted oligarchy that governs by threat of regulation. The country doesn't have free speech or the same individual rights as the United States. This film explains this in painful detail. Just the hurried explanation of how the Canadian Justice System crawls along gives an startling example at how inept and brutish this government has become.

Overall, this is an interesting film but it is a very manipulative one as well. The manipulations are acceptable since they are there because the film maker is eulogizing his friend and presents him in that light. If you're a fan of documentaries or true crime stories, this film will probably be worth putting into your Netflix queue.



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Labels: documentary, film, movie review