Enemies of the State

This is honestly how's news should be done. CNN Fox News MSNBC they need you! Presented both sides of the story no spin!

This is a cautionary tale of how not to enable bad behavior. These parents love to play victims and everything their son does is perfect. The son was flawed and you failed to help him.

TIFF 2020 01

Enemies of the State

The truth is never pure and rarely simple- Oscar Wilde This documentary film was about the case of Matt Dehart and his family against multiple accusations he faced such as child pornography, national security charges and dark-web allegations. This film, I believe, started as a passionate and zealous search for the truth about Matt's case through almost 15 years and the result is that in today's world, the truth is not a definite, absolute, certain object we can achieve, but rather a complex, between the webs of lies set of stories, manipulated facts with various groups interests integrated and intervened to try to shape and form them benefitting those interests. The film feels more like a story of an investigation with great use of cinematic techniques not unlike those of previous Errol Morris works, who also produced this documentary. It's a thought-provoking, intelligent film with lots to offer.

What happened with the reviews here? I was almost shocked by the reviews as I was by some parts of the film... Are people so used to be fed "the truth" with a spoon, that they get angry in the face of ambivalence? Because this was exactly what this film dealt with.

Other reviewers here seem to have panned the film because its subject may be a "bad guy". You know you're rating the movie, not Matt DeHart, right?

Enemies of the State deals with half-truths, spins, perspectives, the dearth of information and what we as the public make of it all. It deals with it in a subtle way and yes, starting with one perspective and gradually revealing more, while all along the way reminding the viewer that the facts are few, and to be suspicious.

By the time it's over, I hope you have made up your mind. This case may be clear by the film's end, but when it comes to other controversies in the news, who do we root for, and who do we vilify?

The documentary was overall interesting but heavily laden with actor recreating scenes that were wholly unneeded. In an age where everything is a conspiracy and there are 'heroes' everywhere against a 'shadowy government' this is an interesting look at someone who made such claims to distract from what the government was really trying to charge and prosecute. Beside the dramatic recreations the lack of an interview with the main subject is really to the detriment of the overall documentary. Over produced, over long, could have been edited down to an hour or an hour and a quarter and it may have been bumped up the rating.