The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker

Last night, I fought against my sleep, so that I could watch this eye opening documentary because it was a story I would not soon forget. I remembered how crazy Caleb "Kai" McGillvary's story was. I didn't personally love the documentary, but it could be that I was already tired when I watched it, so I might not have been in the right headspace for it. I would say, watch it yourself and form your own opinion. Try to watch it before Netflix takes it down because Kai is already complaining that they are exploiting him, and have not paid him for his life story adding to his already bizarre tale.

For those who are unaware of what took place in 2013, on February 2 a video came out from a news reporter who decided to post it on Youtube. It immediately went viral making Kai an internet sensation. Everybody wanted a piece of him; from interviews to reality tv. The issue was that Kai was a homeless hitchhiker, so nobody could even find him for a very long time. The only person who had any kind of access to him was the news reporter and that is only because he had an email address. He would send him messages and wait for a reply. It took a long time. Kai's homeless. He wasn't sitting around checking his emails.

After watching the video, it is apparent why the news reporter didn't put the video on the news, but chose to post it on Youtube instead. Once he caught back up with Kai, though, he did a second interview, where Kai's heroic antiques once again showed through, and only solidified people's fondness for him. He was clearly a Robin Hood type. he would steal from stores and give to other homeless people who he deemed worthy of the stolen goods. He played guitar and could sing. He literally gave a different homeless man his whole backpack because he felt like the man had less than he did. He seemed so saintly.

I remembered thinking back in 2013, though, what is the deal with this guy? I didn't get the appeal. I recognized that he had saved the woman from the man he had asked for a ride, but I thought he was incredibly violent, and it seemed to be uncalled for. I didn't get the hype. The producers for Keeping Up With the Kardashians wanted to give him his own reality show, and he even got to be on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show. I didn't get it.

I understand that Kai would give us all a look into a world we rarely see up close and personal, but who would really want to watch a show about the homeless? These are the people who we all tend to look away from as much as possible. Plus, he didn't even consider himself homeless. He prefers the term "home free".

It turns out that he was not as heroic as people believed. He had made some comments to people that led them to believe that he was the whole reason he had to save the woman from the man he hit with the hatchet. He had laced some marijuana and gave it to him. He later killed an elderly man by brutally beating him. He swears that all of this has to do with rape. Everybody is a rapist if you ask him. It's just super weird, but because he was so charismatic, most people just didn't see it.

I feel like this documentary is just saying to be careful who you glorify based on what the media tells you, you should like. This guy was completely out of his mind, and there were people who would follow him like a cult leader. He was an alcoholic and a drug addict and they gave him what he needed to fuel his habit, which was also making him super dangerous.

This documentary goes into this and so much more, so I do think that it is worth the watch, but I just don't love it personally. Clearly, he was suffering from some mental health issue, and I do think that the movie exploits that a bit. He is super talented though, and if people loved him for his talent, that would be one thing, but people were following him for an act of violence that they called heroic, and I just can't get with that being the pacifist that I am.