Death by Numbers

"Death by Numbers" sets out to be a short documentary with a sensitive, artistic take on a tragedy, but it stumbles over its own ambition. In just over 30 minutes, the film tries to balance poetry, trauma, and justice, but ends up weakening its own message by getting lost in inconsistent narrative choices and an emotionally scattered approach.

The first major issue lies in its attempt to erase the figure of the killer. The initial decision not to show his face seems like a smart one, but the execution of this idea doesn't hold up. At a certain point, the narrative clearly abandons this approach, making it easy for the audience to connect the dots about who he is and what he did. The result is a paradox: by trying to depersonalize the criminal, the documentary only fuels the viewer's curiosity, ultimately making it even easier to identify him.

Director Kim A. Snyder also aims to bring a lyrical tone to the story, but the poetry here clashes with the harsh reality of the events. The inclusion of verses and contemplative imagery-meant to add emotional depth-feels misplaced and hollow. The film wants to be art, but it ends up feeling like an attempt to aestheticize the suffering of its victims. On top of that, the impact of certain moments, like the final testimony, is diluted by the documentary's own structure. What could have been a powerful climax just becomes another segment of the narrative, lacking the transformative force that a subject like this demands.

Another questionable aspect is the way the film approaches the concept of justice. Unlike other documentaries that explore the complexities of capital punishment, "Death by Numbers" takes a more direct and almost propagandistic stance, making it clear that its protagonists see the execution of the killer as the only form of reparation. The issue isn't that this perspective exists, but rather the lack of a real counterpoint. The film presents a moral dilemma only on the surface, without digging into the deeper, more complex layers of the subject. For a documentary that wants to spark reflection, it seems more interested in reaffirming a position than truly exploring the emotional and political weight of its story.

Overall, "Death by Numbers" could have been a powerful study on trauma, memory, and justice, but its lack of narrative consistency and its attempt to turn pain into art end up undermining its potential. It's a film that wants to say a lot but never quite finds the best way to do so.

The film sets out to accomplish an ambitious number of things from its beginning.

Themes of death, justice, recovery and liberation from trauma underlie the film through its narration and the visual language chosen to express the transformative journey by the author in facing their trauma and traumatizer in the course of a criminal trial.

You will be moved by where she begins the story and how she ends it. We do see a transformation that is expertly supported by the director and editor's choices. Despite its shortcomings it is a film that should be seen by as many in America as possible.

There was a lost opportunity to explore what justice means to the author. We are presented with juxtapositions of the present day with images from Nuremberg, for example, and it is hard to ignore the feeling that there is no real delineation between justice and revenge for the author. The film does not dwell upon the death penalty explicitly, but the visual equivocations presented to us outweigh that fact enough to mention.

To be clear, the criticism here is not that one political opinion or another is held; if anything it is that this element has been held back, and minimized. This comes at the cost of allowing an audience to more fully understand where Ms. Fuentes is in her life. After all, this is a documentary crafted around crime and punishment. It stands to reason this should loom larger in the film. It is understandable that the danger of making it seem like a pro-death penalty propaganda film is a legitimate concern, but then that's why we call documentary filmmaking an art.

It should be kept in mind that this film is very much a visceral, and personal statement. The author is still in college, and it's clear there are a lot of things they have yet to confront about this event in their life.

We do not see this movie from the perspective of someone in their 30s with the benefit of a little more psychosocial development and therapy. That's okay. We must take the author as they are, and this film does a very admirable job at allowing us to look at what she was ready to show the world about herself, and about the repeated tragedy that is school shootings in America.

It is done poetically, dangerously, and with great courage. As such, I give it 8 stars.