Bob Ricks, FBI Special Agent In Charge, explains how communication was down after the Oklahoma City Bombing. Despite that, he and the rest of the bureau in Oklahoma had to catch whoever was responsible. Netflix’s True Crime Industrial Complex makes me woozy but Oklahoma City Bombing: American Terror does most of the things right here. For the most part anyway, as the first time documentary filmmaker, Greg Tillman focuses on the FBI and police’s groundwork. There’s also a lot of foresight here as Ricks talks about the difficulties of the investigation. Archive footage shows the police eventually finding their way to terrorist Timothy McVeigh. And yes, McVeigh gets some screen time in this film, but just the right amount so that it’s not all about him.

This documentary has two kinds of talking heads – one group represents the FBI like Ricks who talks logistics. Logistics are an important aspect of counterterrorism which most people need to remember in these events. And then there are those who either survived the attack or are family members of the victims, who are many. Timothy McVeigh attacked a school, and I may discuss his perspective on killing people including kids. Lastly, this made for TV documentary shows the media, scrambling to differentiate the facts from the falsehoods. The media made a lot of racist assumptions during that day but they also remembered the date of the attack. Oklahoma City Bombing: American Terror reminds us that April 19 holds a significance to racists.

Oklahoma City Bombing: American Terror competently weaves its elements together, all contributing to a much bigger picture. The use of the archive footage here, despite the graininess, doesn’t make this feel like historical retelling. Instead, it feels like we’re following the news as it develops, as the FBI finds McVeigh’s supposed address. The documentary goes back and forth from that footage to people like Ricks who explain their actions. All their actions are valid but they’re more careful after April 19 of 1993, when the Waco attack happened. Hearing McVeigh’s name, though, can give some – projecting – that we’re gonna hear ‘his’ side of the story. Sure, that part is inevitable, but the film’s success, again, depends on how much of him will be on screen.

Oklahoma City Bombing: American Terror has a cool or subjective approach to McVeigh’s side of the story. It helps that he’s no longer alive and it’s other FBI agents who are ‘speaking on his behalf’. One can’t help but have snide reactions when the interviews go to the bullying during his childhood. When discussing domestic terrorists, some talk about bullying as if they were the only ones bullied as kid. If he never committed the crime he’d be on both sides of the bullying especially during today. Men like him are the starting point for the different attitudes towards bullying that younger generations have today. Anyway, the documentary, like most pieces about him, isn’t taking his side, and thank God for that.

Stream Oklahoma City Bombing: American Terror on Netflix.