Waco: the Rules of Engagement

However extremely cruelty can be depicted, few images are as effective and shocking as the pictures with the word live underneath. Live from Waco, Texas was on millions of TV screens for days on end in April 1993. But did we see what was to be seen? No, nowhere near, is the message of Waco: the Rules of Engagement, a film that brings the genre ‘investigative documentary’ onto an entirely new and high level.The story distributed by the media and the American governmental organisations (the Feds), that a crazy sect leader was whipping his followers up to commit mass suicide, is totally rewritten by the stubborn William Gazecki. In a meticulous investigation he makes it clear that the Feds wilfully wanted to raze the religious community of David Koresh to the ground, despite the many opportunities to bring the conflict to a peaceful conclusion. When the diabolical machine was on the move, it could not be stopped, mainly because the Feds had no intention of stopping.Gazecki has collected an incredible amount of visual evidence to refute the statements of the Feds. The home-video recordings by the sect itself (including those of the wounded leader) and the infra-red aerial shots made during the actual storming show just how cruelly and indifferently a massive government machine supported by the media can steamroller a small group of exceptions. (GjZ)