Movies / Waco: The Rules of Engagement (1997)

In this provocative documentary, the events leading up to the tragic 51-day stand-off between the United States government and religious leader David Koresh's Branch Davidians in 1994 are seen in a slightly different light, one that intimates that the Federal government is concealing key pieces of information regarding whether or not the situation needed to end with the immolation of 70 cult members, some of whom were women and children. To build his case, filmmaker William Gazecki edited together interviews, news footage, home movies and television coverage on the Senate hearings. To say that Gazecki presents a different side of the sensitive issue is not to say that his film presents a one-sided view of Koresh and his followers as martyrs; it does not, but it does give pause for thought as to whether or not the government could have prevented the catastrophe.