Oklahoma City Bombing: American Terror

This documentary details the Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on 19 April 1995. Timothy McVeigh, a former US Army veteran who served in the Gulf War, was responsible for masterminding the bombing in which 168 people were killed. The documentary also interviews survivors, loved ones of the victims, those that were caught up in the bombing, and police officers and FBI agents.

There was a lot I didn't really know when I first saw this all over the news when I was 11 years old back in 1995. I just remember the aftermath of the bombing on TV and Timothy McVeigh being escorted outside the courthouse in handcuffs and prison jumpsuit.

The documentary was very good. It is confronting going through all the details but it was good to finally see all the details of the events of that fateful day and the investigation and everything that followed.

8/10.

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.

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.

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.

A great documentary but I would have like to seen this as a more lengthy series with some focus on the interviews Timothy McVeigh gave to understand his reasons in more detail. A ten part series would be much better. This seemed to compressed given the scale of the bombing and how it has been the largest domestic terrorist attack in US history. It would be better to speak to more survivors and how it changed their lives. Also there should have been more background on Timothy McVeigh's childhood including his family. Did the film-makers try and speak to his as family? Are they in they in the witness protection progeamme?