American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders

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.

American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders: Documentary series which explores the death of journalist Danny Casolaro and the conspiracies he was investigating at the time of his death. It very much looks as if he was murdered and the the death scene staged to look like suicide, But was he killed by state agents or killers acting on behalf of organised crime? The documentary uncovers credible evidence that officials in the Justice Department acted to steal software from it's legitimate owners and hand ir over to those who had political connections, Other murders are involved not to mention some of those who crop up in the investigation having links to the Iran-Contra affair. Some former state assets may have been set up and/oe killed because of loose lips. We are dealing with the intersection of the Intelligence Community with Organised Crime. A good documentary but it tries to cover too many issues and becomes convoluted and confusing at times. Directed by Zachary Treitz. Four episodes on Netflix. 7/10.

Committed by the second episode, was slightly irked it never really concluded after 4 hours investment.

That's all I have to say really, now filling up characters to suit IMDB. Lead along on the premise that something exciting would happen; it never did. Totally appreciate that's perhaps part of the appeal for some people - for me it was just quite frustrating after investing so much time.

Quite hard to follow at times with lots of names etc. Sounds like in the end all the characters were insane, almost rendering the whole exercise useless. I just felt disappointed at the end after investing so much time.

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.