Wormwood

Love Errol Morris, but far too much time spent on dramatic non-enactments of men pensively staring at each other. An important story that needs to be told, and could have been told more effectively with half the screen time.

This is a great true story, yet another one, of unethical actions taken by our government agencies that took someone's life - and of course nobody has been held to account. For me the docudrama thing just doesn't do it. On top of that that is some borderline amateurish editing. The entire thing should have been half the number of episodes but instead they drag it out to the point that I'm on episode five (of six) and, knowing what happens, to make it though the last two is a complete chore.

I only started watching Wormwoood because NetflixLife posted a tweet asking if anyone was getting into it. No one responded which truly surprised me, so I advised Netflix I'd give it a try.

The story is definitely worth telling. It has all the elements to create a decent docudrama. I always enjoy Peter Skarsgård, but the poor guy was so limited by the material. I'll will admit though, that the first episode was interesting enough for me to keep going.

But sadly, as early as episode 2, I realized 6 episodes were unnecessary. It could have been condensed to 2-3 episodes at the most. The pace is stultifying slow. I think this show might have been markedly better and perhaps more cohesive if they simply used the recorded interviews with the key characters.

I thought I'd try one more episode, but early into episode 3, Id had enough. I wasn't going to watch 3 more hours for any momentum or improved pacing.

I rarely review a show where I feel compelled to write a review. Wormwood is the exception. I simply had to express my disappointment in what could have been, with a different director perhaps, a terrific exposé on devious real life doings of the CIA in the late 40's through the early 70's.

Would've been a much higher rating if it was a 2 hour special. In fact my only complaints are the length of time, and that you can receive a PhD from Harvard for making collages. The actors were great and so was the production. Just needed to be more concise.

...with all these negative reviews.

Wormwood is a fresh take on the 'documentary with dramatic acting' genre. Using established actors to capture the dramatic reenactments, juxtaposed with Morris' real-life interviews and media clips from that time-period, brings a different level of legitimacy, to an incredibly fascinating story.

Worth the watch