Newtown

Were there justice in this debauched country of ours, this documentary would receive every award there is. Director Kim Snyder makes it clear that there is no justice in a country that would witness a massacre like this and then allow its elected officials to knuckle under to the NRA. For the parents and siblings of the murdered, for the first responders, the shooting remains a forever-open wound. For this viewer at least, Washington's lack of response to prevent another massacre is a stream of salt poured directly into that open wound. But I'm just going on about the implied politics of this amazing film. When you see "Newtown" you'll probably instead feel how powerfully Ms. Snyder has captured the unfairness of the universe.

Newtown reminds me of an industrially produced cookie. It has perfect production values and assembly, but is formulaic and unsatisfying. The most interesting parts of the movie were the paperwork snippets. Adam Lanza was a formally diagnosed headcase in the custody of a dysfunctional single mother, but none of the involved parties -- psychologists, child protection workers, or the family court -- were capable or willing to intervene. Nor did this docudrama criticize any of these parties for mission failure. The producers also didn't mention that Sandy Hook School was participating in a post-Columbine security theatre that is completely ineffective against a genuinely hostile actor.