Word: branches
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Waco: The Rules of Engagement thus does what few others did, asking why these people became Branch Davidians. The members become people who made rational choices rather than blind, impersonal drones who followed Koresh. A portion of the film even documents the history of the Branch Davidians, showing it to be not a cult, but a more established religion. The documentary is most balanced in these passages, treating these people fairly and with sufficient compassion...
...film even dares to have sympathy for the vilified Koresh. The film first presents him ambiguously, quoting Biblical passages. Part of this sympathy may be due to the means of attaining footage. Since the footage largely came from the Branch Davidians themselves, Koresh may have censored it. But that which Gazecki retains shows Koresh as a complex man, far from the villain portrayed by the media...
Even when presenting the history of the Branch Davidians, the documentary does not completely condemn Koresh. Gazecki contrasts the two sects that split (one of which formed the Branch Davidians), showing the leader of the other sect as a disreputable criminal. By this comparison, Koresh seems less villainous. Even when detailing Koresh's greatest flaws, the soundtrack shifts to melancholy music that laments rather than condemns the situation...
...film falters when it attempts to justify the more disreputable behavior among the Branch Davidians. Waco contains almost too much sympathy for the Branch Davidians. When dealing with the sexual abuse of children that may have occurred at the compound, the documentary adopts a specious argument based on parental consent, then places blame on the ATF for using this abuse--an area for which the agency has no jurisdiction--as a basis for involvement. The film, like the ATF itself, shifts blame through technicalities...
Waco works hard to humanize the Branch Davidians, but spends most of its energies condemning the behavior of the ATF. Conspiracies abound as the film jumps from one facet of the conflict to another. This non-linear progression highlights the worst errors...