Conspiraciones de EE. UU.: Los asesinatos del Pulpo

There are known knowns and known unknowns. I seem to recall a member of a criminal administration saying that.

This high caliber documentary does not pretend the behemoth of a story can ever be wrapped up in tidy fashion. There are far too many tentacles, so to speak. Yet much is uncovered. Facts are learned. Suspicions confirmed. New questions raised, new unknowns discovered. Every stone turned over can reveal a new fact, danger, helper, criminal, or crazy. This documentary is the book the almost certainly murdered Danny Casolaro did not live to finish and so much more.

It has been confirmed by numerous sources that members of the soon to be elected Reagan administration had the will and the contacts to delay the release of the Iran hostages for great political gain. The same administration bypassed congress to illegally sell arms to Nicaraguan Contras. Reagan claimed to forgotten most everything when finally put on the stand.

The Promis software had a backdoor. It was sold to allies and used to spy on them as the money was counted. Government agencies and former employees did brisk business. Electing former CIA head Bush exasperated shady dealings and clandestine violence. What's a few more bodies when the money is so good?

Investigator Christian Hansen can never stop asking questions, never learn enough. Sign posts along the rabbit hole that claimed Danny crop up, but he keeps digging, much to his credit. We are left with many disturbing facts, informed speculation, helpful informers, troubled witnesses with a foot in each world, and plenty to ponder.

Dead men tell no tales. Many have been silenced. Others fear to speak up. Some share truths tainted by justifiable paranoia. The film does not claim to have all the answers or even all the questions. But bravery and dogged curiosity are a dangerous combination. It is to viewers' benefit that Hansen dug deep. We can make of it what we will, going forward a little wiser and better informed. Recommended.

The documentary series is watchable and interesting on multiple levels. On the surface, the mystery behind the death of Casolaro, an investigative journalist who dies while in pursuit of his journalistic White Whale. Did he take his own life? Or was he murdered?

The second layer, not obvious at first, is the perilous prospect of diving head first into a rabbit hole, and the affect on a person's sanity and grip on reality, when one rabbit hole inevitably leads to more.

The third tragic layer is the damage you can feel from all the peripheral players. Family and friends of Casolaro's as well as the investigators involved (including the documentarians) are haunted by his death, and the labyrinthian tentacles of a corrupt network too big to solve.

The unreliable narratives, shady interviewees and second hand (sometimes third or fourth) information spin wheels that often go nowhere. We even get a bizarre claim about the veracity of the Zapruder film that will cause thousands of internet searches.

What can't be argued are the disturbing patterns of convenient missing data, witnesses and disinterested authorities. In the last episode, the file on Casolaro's death is opened, revealing a key piece of information that was hidden/ignored/forgotten that would have changed the entire course of his murder investigation.

The internecine threads of government corruption, illegal and immoral surveillance are, by turns, shocking but unsurprising.

Ultimately, as a documentary there are quality issues that can't be ignored, and more than a few confusing photo montages that don't shed any light...on anything.

But, in the end, tantalized by another random phone call, our investigator, who has seemed to break away from the demented allure of mass conspiracy, allows himself to be drawn in once again.

A cautionary tale to be sure.

After watching this I am still not sure.. Mostly about.. well.. anything. This is too big of a story. So big it makes you wonder if it is even possible but at the same time it somehow feels very possible and almost common. A conspiracy so wild and wide it is almost infinite. But what makes it different is the point of view. In this documentary you are part of the crew trying to decipher it all as well as a witness of an obsession that can possess you if you get to deep. If there is a mystery so profound including so many parts and questions it might never stop and it might just take you down with it. For more reasons.

Ignore the suspicously odd number of super low reviews. This documentary is flawed, but well worth a watch. Addressing the flaws first: it's a bit plodding at times and there are parts that could have been clearer. It also seems to throw the main information under the bus to some degree (perhaps pulling back to lessen the possiblity of blowback for making it). Is it biased? Probably (it's on Netflix, after all). Does it tell the whole story? Nope.

It is, however, very much still worth a watch. It offers some fresh examples of how the world actually works: evidence that's buried by the police, murderous criminals who do little/no time (because they also work for powerful people), intelligence operatives posing as humanitarians, "whistleblowers" who dole out disinformation and try to determine what you actually know, intersection of intelligence organizations and organized crime, etc.

If you aren't already somewhat familiar with the world of covert operations like the CIA's role in the crack cocaine epidemic you might assume all of what's in the documentary is made up, but the world is a strange place.

Overall it's very interesting content. The intelligence community seems as dark and shady as we all imagined. Honestly, it's probably far worse than we could ever imagine and any documentary could ever portray. This documentary moves at a snails pace. At times it feels scattered and likely missing parts. I understand that's part of a conspiracy theory but by the end it's difficult to keep the timeline straight enough to make a proper conclusion for yourself. Aggravating ending. Kudos to the film makers for digging up the research and interviews though. You can see the time they put into it. Unfortunately it just misses the mark overall in the end.