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A Filmmaker’s Review: “Unabomber: In His Own Words” (Netflix, 2020)

4/5 - A grand creation of documentary cinema

By Annie KapurPublished 4 years ago 3 min read
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I am pretty sure that anyone who hears the term ‘Unabomber’ has this weird chill that goes down them. You don’t really know why you have a certain chill but it’s there. It’s not really because of the man himself but more about the strangeness surrounding his situation - especially the odd three years he spent under the influence of a psychologist at Harvard University, apparently subjected to CIA style mind-altering torture techniques. Though the man himself maintains it did not change him, is it really that or is that just what he believes? This documentary investigates the years between 1978 and 1995 in which a Mathematics PhD killed three people and injured more than twenty by sending homemade bombs in the post to key locations, concentrating on the urgency for his capture and how ultimately - he was found. It is an incredible look into the life of a man who, since his capture, was shrouded in so much mystery that you practically could not learn anything about him apart from his stubbornly academic manifesto. In this documentary we also get to see his brother, his sister-in-law, a woman who interviewed him after he sent for her by name. We get to see that from the very start of his life there is a sense of withdrawal because of his vast intellect. This intellect that becomes used and abused by the wrong people for the wrong reasons.

Split up into manageable chunks of information, this documentary really does focus on the main aspects of the case. One of the people we get to see is the man who managed the investigation into the Unabomber and how he was under pressure for almost twenty years to find him and bring him to justice. We get the development of the very famed sketch of the Unabomber which has now become some sort of artistic cult drawing like that of the weird Penny Dreadful sketch of Jack the Ripper. It is well styled documentary which pays attention to how much information the audience can consume without becoming somewhat overwhelmed. The first part deals with the Chicago Bombings, the next part deals with the travels around America and the last part deals with the return of the Unabomber in the 1990s - which leads to his arrest, trial and imprisonment. In these three various parts to the narratives, much like the three acts to a modernist stage play, we get several different component pieces. One narrative deals with the Unabomber living as a hermit, the other with his background and his brother, another deals with his university life and finally, we have the narrative from the Unabomber himself that is given to us through the recordings of the one major interview he gave.

Another thing this documentary does really well is it talks to very relevant and very educated people. First and foremost are the members of the FBI and investigators who worked on the case, the brother of the Unabomber, the CIA Member who knew about the torture techniques, a PhD of sociology, a PhD of psychology and various people who knew him such as his neighbours, his friends from university and all these people who had no idea what was going on.

One thing I am critical of though is the use of music. I really don’t feel like the theme tune they played at the start and end to every episode really fit the mood they were trying to portray here. In the documentary, they are definitely trying to portray the Unabomber as a lonesome domestic terrorist, but the people within the documentary said a completely different thing to this mood and so, we get some sort of clash which really does not suit the atmosphere by the end of the series. Looking back upon it, a possible change would require to be made. However, it is not only this soundtrack which would need changing, there are various times where things speed up, slow down and give mixed messages about the atmosphere the documentary is creating of the Unabomber. I would prefer it if there was one underlying atmosphere portrayed by the documentary - even though it was split up well, it could have been even better in terms of understanding, mood and entertainment value.

To conclude, it is a brilliant and polished achievement of documentary cinema with a topic that still shakes the very foundations of the legal system today. When dealing with one of the most wanted men in all of history, you have to tread lightly, this documentary does that for the victims, but it is clear that they do not sympathise with the Unabomber - no matter how incomprehensible his intelligence is.

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About the Creator

Annie Kapur

190K+ Reads on Vocal.

English Lecturer

🎓Literature & Writing (B.A)

🎓Film & Writing (M.A)

🎓Secondary English Education (PgDipEd)

📍Birmingham, UK

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