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90 of 99 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Detailed Review, March 17, 2004
This DVD is a good overview of the assassination of Kennedy. True, it does focus on the conspiracy theories and it is not an unbiased look at the evidence; however, the interviews with people who have a lot to say are engrossing and the "evidence" produced is thought provoking.There is no doubt that evidence exists to dispute the findings of the Warren Commission report on the assassination of President Kennedy. This DVD presents a lot of that evidence in a organized fashion. It is good to actually see the people interviewed who say the shots were coming from the grassy knoll. I liked looking at the photographic evidence that critics claim show a person (badge man) shooting from the knoll (I don't see anything). The DVD at least allows you to see the people and the evidence and make a lot of judgments for yourself. A lot of the witnesses are not convincing to me, and a lot of the so called evidence just looks like junk. I have a natural tendency to distrust testimony from strippers (or former strippers) and I don't see what others say is clearly present in certain photographs. I am a lawyer (not a trial lawyer) so I suppose I look at evidence a little differently than most and probably take a more skeptical view, but I still like to see it myself and not let someone else tell me what something shows or who to believe. I think the DVD does raise significant questions about the killing of the President as presented by the Warren Report on the assassination. I have read portions of the Warren Report and I have read a few books on this subject authored by both the critics and those who support the Commission's conclusions. While I would say this DVD does contain some speculation that is impossible for the viewer to make an independent decision on, and it contains a lot of language that is less than clinical, it does present a lot of solid evidence. Actual interviews with the Dallas police officers who were there and who talked with Oswald and Ruby are just invaluable. So are a lot of the other interviews. Just a list of those who have been sent to an early grave that had facts to support a shot being fired from the grassy knoll is unnerving. To see some of those same people on screen telling their story near in time to the killing of the President is compelling. If you believe what they have to say a lot of the Warren Commission's findings are not accurate. If you are not interested in mysteries this isn't for you. In the end there are a lot of theories that can be supported depending on which set of facts you find to be most important. The assassination of President Kennedy is a mystery because so much is left unexplained. For example, there is no doubt the evidence in the National Archives has been corrupted. The brain is missing and at least some other evidence has disappeared. Once evidence has been tampered with a person is allowed to believe it is all under suspicion. The evidence is the foundation of analysis, and when that is gone mystery remains. So the viewer will not get a solid "we have it all figured out" explanation at the end. No murderer jumps up to confess in the last scene and reveal all. The mystery remains and the uncomfortable feeling that comes with mystery - real mystery - is there. We will probably never figure it out because the list of "oops" or whatever is almost endless. Criminal incompetence on the part of the Secret Service, incompetent medical examiners, missing evidence, incompetent police procedures, consistent failures to follow even the most elemental criminal evidence protection steps, failures to tape or record critical interrogations, failure to follow up important information, investigators ignoring certain aspects of the case (who were the men who displayed Secret Service credentials to the police on the day of the murder), inconsistent statements from important witnesses etc. This is a real mystery. A lot of people are murdered every year without explanation. The real world can be a messy and inhospitable place. We tend to want to think that the murder of the President of the United States would be different. With some of the best police agencies in the world working on the case we could figure it out and close the file and be at least comfortable with the idea that we know what happened. This film will not allow you to think that way. This was a messy event with a lot going wrong - as it usually does - and this DVD lets you know that. No nice world tied up in a nice package with a bow on it. No...this is reality. And a lot of it. A very good DVD and well worth the price.
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