Killing County

This story is told with news and deposition clips juxtaposed with interviews of local media, family of decedents, law enforcement, and journalists from the guardian, and some narrative actors. There is a drastic difference between how the decedents' families are lighted made up and shot. The make up artist also used the wrong kind of false eyelashes, making most if the surviving family look like ridiculous baby doll parodies. I am no make up fanatic, but the bad makeup, very different scene and shot compositions and lighting used for victims versus professionals interviewed is overtly distracting and does a disservice to victim family members by making them look cheap, when they are the driving force of the piece.

The physical and technical aspects of this documentary detract so much from the purported subject matter, I'm not sure what the message is supposed to be. Are we patronizing the pathetic denizens of Bakersfield, platforming professional experts, doing City Confidential Bakersfield, or revealing a story? The editing cuts between media records, reenactment narration, professional and victim interviews are too quick cut and don't move the story as much as distract. As the episodes unfold all these flaws become more and more apparent. Production is too clever by half. It's a Disappointing mess. The bones of a good documentary on law enforcement-resident conflict in a historically underserved community are here.

A clear indictment on this disgraceful excuse for policing. Trigger happy cops with no respect for life - judge, jury, executioners.

The series showcases this throughout the series by showing repeat cases where the Bakersfield PD has clearly behaved with gross negligence and then covered for their officers. Perspectives from the victims families are shared, along with reporters who were following these cases at the time.

The disappointing aspect is the direction- they made a creative choice to use paid actors to read testimony and letters and they show these actors on screen who talk to the audience direct. It's so off putting, just read it via voiceover or summarise. It absolutely takes away from the flow. I also don't like the narrators voice or script - it's overwritten.

Certainly, Bakersfield is infamous for its high crime rate, which is 85% above the national average. There's definitely a lot of strain on the police department. But the question remains, why do so many people have to die due to police intervention, and why doesn't the police department put processes into place to stop these deaths? As this document shows towards the end, simply implementing, or updating the guidelines for police officers would have a tremendous impact. This documentary is well-made, well researched, and offers good insight into the effects of aggressive police behavior on ordinary citizens.

The purpose of this documentary is to villainize police for officer involved shootings. Given who produced it and when it was released, it's meant to piggyback on the public outcry following the death of George Floyd. While it does expose some potential examples of excessive force and cases where the police could have potentially changed their tactics, it fails to address the root issue; most of the victims of police shootings are people with a criminal background and are often shot during the commission of a crime or while not complying with police commands. In this case of this documentary, they portray the police as cold blooded killers who murdered innocent people, as if it was for sport, even though it's fairly clear to the audience that several of these shootings could have been avoided had the victims not put themselves in a precarious position.

They also make it seem as if officer involved shootings are a common occurrence but fail to mention that they represent a small fraction of all police contacts with the public. It's worth watching if you're open to getting a different perspective on the issue, but it should be viewed through a critical lens.

In the documentary "The Killing County", the actions of the Coroner, the Sheriff Department and the Bakersfield Police Department exposes character flaws akin to a modern day "Greek Tragedy" or "Shakespearean Tragedy". There are so many instances of hubris, misplaced trust, pride and lack of self-control.

Damacio Diaz crashes like Icarus, Donny Youngblood's pride and arrogance like Julius Ceasar, etc.

The last "Modern Day Tragedy" film I saw about a homicide of an unarmed citizen was "Fruitvale Station" based on the 2009 shooting of Oscar Grant.

It was shocking and surreal how some individuals were intertwined in multiple shootings. You could not have script this to if you tried. This has to become an award winning documentary.