The Anthrax Attacks

This documentary does a decent job capturing the chaos and uncertainty of the weeks after 9/11 when America was besieged by Anthrax-laced mailings. These mailings resulted in only five deaths, but caused an untold level of fear. The film does a good job overviewing the lengthy and expensive FBI investigation into the case. Having lived through that era as a teenager it was interesting to watch this film as a piece of history now that we are over 20 years removed from the attacks. From the science of the pure anthrax spores to the cryptic notes included with the anthrax to the red herrings and missteps along the way, the film manages to cover an enormous amount of information in less than two hours. The film is a mix of news reel footage, interviews with those involved in the case, and re-enactments of key interactions with the main suspect. Clark Gregg of Marvel fame portrays Dr. Bruce Ivins who after a years long investigation was identified by the FBI as the perpetrator. Gregg gave a good performance. I don't normally like re-enactments in documentaries, but these scenes were written based directly on FBI interview notes of their conversations with Ivins as well as Ivins' own emails and writings. This gave the re-enactments a grounded and real feel. Overall this is an informative and easy to digest documentary. However, even after watching it, the viewer may feel less than convinced that the FBI got there man.

It was interesting to watch but the second half of the documentary like a domino or card house falling apart the whole concept of the movie. The documentary "The Anthrax Attacks" is about what happened after the September 11 attacks (September 11, 2001), but instead of showing us what happened, we see huge mistakes from FBI and people who has a lot of health problems. While you expecting continuation of the investigation, fairness towards post office workers, and some sort of answers, you will get a slap on your face from the government with statements like "Sorry but so many things is going on" or "We have done a great job" Well, kind of disappointing.

It reminded me about Dick Cheney (played by Christian Bale) words in movie "Vice" (2018) at the end of the movie, " I can feel your incriminations and your judgment, and I am fine with that. You want to be loved? Go be a movie star. The world is as you find it. You've gotta deal with that reality that there are monsters in this world. We saw 3,000 innocent people burned to death by those monsters, and yet you object when I refuse to kiss those monsters on the cheek and say "pretty please." You answer me this, what terrorist attack would you have let go forward so you wouldn't seem like a mean and nasty fella? I will not apologize for keeping your family safe. And I will not apologize for doing what needed to be done so that your loved ones could sleep peaceably at night. It has been my honor to be your servant. You chose me. And I did what you asked."

God bless America and may the victims of 9/11 rest in peace.

I really don't like documentaries that are actually just dramatized reenactments of the events, and prefer investigative documentaries that rely solely on actual footage, audio and other media involving the event. This documentary tries to straddle both, but unfortunately tries to derive way too much substance from the re-enactment portion. Most of this has to do with one of the FBI's suspects, and at that point in the film the production really goes off the rails into being primarily an over-acted, dramatized re-enactment. I think they felt this was really necessary to better highlight the reasons why the FBI suspected this person, maybe feeling that simple narration of transcripts might have been too boring. However, as with all re-enactments, you then run into scenes like a deposition hearing between the FBI and the suspect that are so dramatized you don't know what was actually said and what was part of the script the production company provided.

I would have preferred if it had been a purely factual documentary, or at least if Netflix had made it more clear that it was so largely re-enacted so I could avoid it all together.

... Is run by a bunch of incompetent idiots. The lead FBI agent is sure that they got the right guy - that after he died of suicide, instead of pursuing a post-humous grand jury indictment, they just destroy all the evidence and case files after it being the most expensive FBI investigation in history?! Ok. Idiots.

Great documentary given the context. The suspect seems like a good fit on paper in regards to being a strange guy BUT again the FBI couldn't prove he was their guy otherwise they would have arrested him at that very first interview. Also, lead guy, your smoking gun is a code book that the FBI threw out, seriously?! This investigation through and through was a joke. The FBI is a joke.

No pun intended - this is not about the Anthrax itself, but what or rather how the documentary is done. Mixing documentary and re-enacted events. With Clark Gregg of all people - I reckon on purpose, because he is quite likeable and not as shady (potentially?) as the character he is supposed to portray.

That mixed bags of goods ... well I am not sure it will work for most people watching this. The scenes that are being redone for dramatic effect ... well they don't entirely work. My sense and my understanding of them. Seeing how people have rated, it seems that others do agree with me though.

Interestingly done, but there are way better documentaries out there, you can spend your time with ... just saying.