Oklahoma City Bombing: American Terror

This documentary explores that fateful day in 1995, when a bomb went off in Oklahoma's Federal building and the subsequent investigation that followed.

It will never not be a shocking story, without a doubt this is one of America's biggest and most grotesque terrorist attacks.

I've seen a few documentaries about the event, but this is arguably the best of the lot, at ninety minutes long it's actually quite concise, they could easily have stretched this out over three hours or so.

Even if you know the storyline, there's so much content revealed here that I was unaware of, unbelievable. Once again as a somewhat conservative minded Brit, I just find myself baffled by the gun laws in The US.

Very powerful, very moving, hearing about the children who were caught up in the explosion made my heart sink, it's a shocking revelation, that poor mother.

Some incredible footage, including interviews with those directly affected and some incredible shots of the building after the explosion.

8/10.

From the start, the tragedy of this lost and unloved Iraq war vet's heartless Act of terrorism is portrayed with human stories: a woman rescued from the rubble, first responders and community volunteers acting bravely and competently, victims' families just stunned and grieving. I appreciated learning not only previously unfamiliar details of the bombing and subsequent investigation but have so many Oklahomans selflessly risked their lives in the rescue efforts and offered any help they could provide.

I thought there was an appropriate amount of original video, interviews and context. I liked that the score didn't needlessly try to amp up the pathos.

Now 30 years after the Oklahoma City Bombing, we have this great documentary. Netflix is very good making documentaries.

There is a lot of footage about what happened. Second by second, minute by minute, hour and hour and day by day.

There is new information that I didn't know. But I am not gonna talk about that, because you should watch it. This is one of the best documentaries I have ever seen about that tragic day. Lots of video images and a lot of archives and data that is very interesting. You will find answers to a lot of questions about why, who and what happened that 19 of April 30 years ago.

I hope you like it. It's worth the time!

7 stars out of 10.

This is a very powerful and moving documentary about the Oklahoma bombing.

At times almost unbearable, due to the real people's recollections of the event as they were directly involved, or became involved in dealing with the direct aftermath.

It needs to be seen to highlight the terrible consequences of certain peoples actions who, quite cold-bloodily, took the lives of ordinary citizens who, through no fault of their own, happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Innocents, children and babies no less.

I'm not American and you don't have to be to be affected by this obscene crime.

If there is a hell, these perpetrators will burn in it.

This might be the only time these words are written about a Netflix documentary, ever: It should've been longer. Normally, Netflix specializes in taking a topic that merits an hour-long documentary, and somehow stretches it into a 4 episode, 3-hour endurance test.

The runtime is divided into interviews with the victims of the bombing, the first responders, the investigators of the aftermath, recounting the events that led up to the bombing, and some short audio recordings of Timothy McVeigh.

There are longer documentaries out there that speculate about larger conspiracies, but this focuses on the three men charged and sentenced for the crime. Again, I am surprised that Netflix didn't dedicate numerous episodes to chasing those threads.

The actual timeline - the renting of the Ryder truck, the explosion, and finally to McVeigh being captured was about 3 days total - so it is a very short, and straightforward, narrative.

Timothy McVeigh has always been a bit of an enigma to me, because there was not much known about him. Well, this documentary reveals the reason there isn't much in-depth knowledge of McVeigh...because there isn't much depth there at all.

He comes across as a person who is angry at the world but doesn't seem to quite know why. He rails against gun restrictions and government overreach, but it seems more like a convenient outlet to vent his anger than a genuine passion. The audio clips reveal a person who was adrift and decided to lash out at the world. He couldn't fit in with society, couldn't fit in the Army, and couldn't fit in when he came back to civilian life. A lost soul.

The interviews with the survivors, and the relatives of those who were lost are poignant. One survivor committed herself to making real changes in her life, so she would not look back with regrets on her second chance. I feel like many of them had allowed the events of that day to scar over and become a painful memory, so I appreciate them opening up again about the worst day of their life.

This documentary does a fine job of covering the nuts and bolts of the events that led up to the bombing, the bombing, and the aftermath. The easiest part of any documentary is the "how" part of what happened. Because the three main participants (McVeigh, Nichols, and Fortier) are dead, jail for life, and in witness protection respectively, we'll never really know the "why" of what they did. Timothy McVeigh speaks about what he did, but it's mostly empty phrases of bravado - no real insight.

A warning to viewers, this documentary includes an interview with the mother of an infant who died in the bombing. It is heart-wrenching to watch, but it puts a name and a face to one of the numerous victims who are often reduced to a number when this story is told.

Compliments to the film makers for making a compelling and concise doc that will stick with you for at least a few days after you watch it, and perhaps longer.