Late 1970's-Early 1980's. New York had one of the highest and alarming crime numbers in the world despite its reputation as being called as
the center of the world, just like Paris was in the 1800's. On december 1984, comes the case of Bernhard Goetz and his subway shooting of four black
young men of whom he suspected they were menacing towards him, cornered all alone in this train car and he feared for his life, grabbed his gun and shot them all without killing any of them - but leaving one paralyzed for life. Had it been done in the light of our current times Goetz would be crucified with no mercy. Back then, things were different because he explained his reasoning and understanding the context of living in one of the most dangerous cities in the world, without help from authorities and also keeping in mind that he was a victim of several other aggressions in the past years, he had to do something - even though it was an overreaction of his.
This documentary presents Bernhard Goetz explaining his relevantly clear actions and motivations behind his action, on a video tape recorded by
the police and the assistant distric attorneys a few days after the incident. Goetz isn't seen as a hero (even though, in my book, he is one. I'll explain
later this); he's shown as a uncontrolled, nervous, seated in a bad posture and wearing glasses as thick as the ones used by Jeffrey Dahmer - even without
the glasses, as presented in a photo during his arrest he resembles Dahmer a little - so it's difficult at first glance to symphatize with the man. But when
his words come out detailing how it all happened when he was cornered by four guys and how the judicial system is flawed and doesn't protect citizens like him
when needed - the man is of an absolute verbal/political correctness, eloquent and completely right. He may look a psychotic individual but he was simply an
ordinary man with his tech job, who suffered some bit in the city he loved and expected protection but he has had enough and wouldn't take it anymore: he bought an illegal gun, carried every single day after his mugging attack years earlier and when things finally happened, the whole course of action changed. He turned himself in just to expose not the incident but the roots of it all...and it all comes back to 1980's New York City lack of security - the duel he has with the female assistant D.A. is priceless, every time she keeps asking dumb questions which a real professional should know the answers. Goetz loses it and avoids giving a response. Common fact on the record: of 13 accusations, he only got punished for one: the most deserved one, possession of an illegal firearm.
Along with the confession of Bernhard acts, there's brief interviews with some of the jurors of his trials, activists and the "victims" lawyers, and later we found out some of them actually committed crimes right after or before their attack on Bernhard. The mystery still remains: Goetz was too quick with his action? Totally. He didn't kill anyone but easily could. Was there a racial motivation? To the last question I absolutely loved CORE leader Roy Innes input, a radical authority in the black community, who actually defends Goetz move and don't think of him as a racist. It was just the fear factor speaking higher. We'll never know exactly if the violence would come towards Goetz or if the quartet was just playing a lame prank while demanding for five dollars. As I said earlier, I considered a hero because he stood up for himself despite the unorthodox method. I've been in a slightly similar situation where the wagon was practically empty and comes a "soccer group", five or six guys and girls, loudly talking and cornering me thorugh all the exits of my seat. I only had two or more three steps to leave and those were some of the most frightening five minutes of my life because I was waiting for some menacing moment or some conversation I didn't want to have. Without excuses, I stormed to my exit and rushed my away home and the thought came: Bernhard Goetz was right all along because you never know when or how things like that can happen, and you need to be prepared for some reaction or some desperate response. Luckily, mine was just a rushed thought process, didn't like the feeling of that group around me when the train was empty and seats available everywhere; Goetz simply used his instincts and pulled the trigger. I know, 4 criminal and trained types against 1 simple skinny fella is cowardice and hard to provide some action but at least he could just point the gun and keep on moving, shout, threat them until them leave or you can exit the train. Gotta feel his anguish and panic (Hollywood wouldn't dare to make a biopic of this case, specially now, in those heavy political correctness fashion. I'd like to see that film happening just to create a crucial debate but it could turn out in becoming the new "The Birth of Nation" and we can't go through race riots because of facts of a different era).
Well, I'm just presenting scenarios and not really the movie. It's a nice documentary, it exposes all possible aspects of a complicated issue that was a matter for debate in the 1980's, and looking back now we don't see much the opposite happening. Sure, it happens of people going Charles Bronson mode, everything is a "Death Wish" kind of way because we are not safe in our streets, nowhere in the world despite the whole technological aparat available to us, more and more institutions, surveillance everywhere..crime is still going rampant. It's important and highly valid to see it now to compare personal situations, the stories we hear on the news and how sometimes our gut feeling tells us to break a crack to the system, protect ourselves and give some instant justice. But we're far from perfect, we can't use or have guns (in some countries) and we still have to depend on a judicial system that isn't helpful and only serve to condene the same kind of people or not give proper condemnation to hard or white collar criminals. The film presents its case in a good way, despite the poor audio quality from the police tapes, but here we have the chance to give Goetz a voice, a reasoning and truly enters his frame of mind. He wasn't a monster and lots of people hailed his daring action. It's simply another case of bad timing that caused a turmoil of catastrophic events, a drama of towering proportions. Life as it is and we're still not safe after all those years. 9/10
Along with the confession of Bernhard acts, there's brief interviews with some of the jurors of his trials, activists and the "victims" lawyers, and later we found out some of them actually committed crimes right after or before their attack on Bernhard. The mystery still remains: Goetz was too quick with his action? Totally. He didn't kill anyone but easily could. Was there a racial motivation? To the last question I absolutely loved CORE leader Roy Innes input, a radical authority in the black community, who actually defends Goetz move and don't think of him as a racist. It was just the fear factor speaking higher. We'll never know exactly if the violence would come towards Goetz or if the quartet was just playing a lame prank while demanding for five dollars. As I said earlier, I considered a hero because he stood up for himself despite the unorthodox method. I've been in a slightly similar situation where the wagon was practically empty and comes a "soccer group", five or six guys and girls, loudly talking and cornering me thorugh all the exits of my seat. I only had two or more three steps to leave and those were some of the most frightening five minutes of my life because I was waiting for some menacing moment or some conversation I didn't want to have. Without excuses, I stormed to my exit and rushed my away home and the thought came: Bernhard Goetz was right all along because you never know when or how things like that can happen, and you need to be prepared for some reaction or some desperate response. Luckily, mine was just a rushed thought process, didn't like the feeling of that group around me when the train was empty and seats available everywhere; Goetz simply used his instincts and pulled the trigger. I know, 4 criminal and trained types against 1 simple skinny fella is cowardice and hard to provide some action but at least he could just point the gun and keep on moving, shout, threat them until them leave or you can exit the train. Gotta feel his anguish and panic (Hollywood wouldn't dare to make a biopic of this case, specially now, in those heavy political correctness fashion. I'd like to see that film happening just to create a crucial debate but it could turn out in becoming the new "The Birth of Nation" and we can't go through race riots because of facts of a different era).
Well, I'm just presenting scenarios and not really the movie. It's a nice documentary, it exposes all possible aspects of a complicated issue that was a matter for debate in the 1980's, and looking back now we don't see much the opposite happening. Sure, it happens of people going Charles Bronson mode, everything is a "Death Wish" kind of way because we are not safe in our streets, nowhere in the world despite the whole technological aparat available to us, more and more institutions, surveillance everywhere..crime is still going rampant. It's important and highly valid to see it now to compare personal situations, the stories we hear on the news and how sometimes our gut feeling tells us to break a crack to the system, protect ourselves and give some instant justice. But we're far from perfect, we can't use or have guns (in some countries) and we still have to depend on a judicial system that isn't helpful and only serve to condene the same kind of people or not give proper condemnation to hard or white collar criminals. The film presents its case in a good way, despite the poor audio quality from the police tapes, but here we have the chance to give Goetz a voice, a reasoning and truly enters his frame of mind. He wasn't a monster and lots of people hailed his daring action. It's simply another case of bad timing that caused a turmoil of catastrophic events, a drama of towering proportions. Life as it is and we're still not safe after all those years. 9/10
