![]() It’s a rambling, if generally thorough, document of a strange historical event, largely recounted by the people who were there, which rarely takes sides and certainly leaves open to interpretation which truth holds more water. Wild Wild Country tells their story in lavish detail, and since they were such a media curiosity at the time there is an incredible wealth of archival footage with which to work. By the mid-’80s they had disbanded, after a series of legal scandals that ranged from the weird to the outright horrible. In the early 1980s, a guru with an ashram in Poona, India relocated to an 80,000-acre ranch outside the minuscule town of Antelope, Oregon, and then proceeded to be in the news constantly for one crazy thing or another. Even the ones who were indicted for everything from biological warfare and voter fraud to attempted murder. In fact, nearly four decades later, the devotees of guru Bhagawan Sri Rajneesh still appear to inhabit a separate reality. Wild Wild Country’s primary interviewees-some members of the cult, some residents and law enforcement agents in the Oregon county where the Rajneeshpuram commune was located-seem to have inhabited two separate realities: If you made a Venn diagram, there would be virtually no overlap. Some documentaries are more dedicated than others to telling a story from multiple and opposing viewpoints. Just as Cooke began writing politically-minded music-the sequence where “A Change is Gonna Come” plays in the background is breathtaking-his life was tragically cut short, and the film is a reminder of his unbelievable talent, and his embrace of blackness, that history largely forgot. Cooke’s murder arises as an integral point of discussion in the film, and the details to this day are still muddy. As Cooke became an increasingly influential cultural figure, his associations with other politically active black figures like Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, and Jim Brown posed a threat to the racial status quo. ![]() In an effort to save his “murdered legacy,” the film examines his early roots in black churches, the evolution of his music, his impressive business acumen, and his political activism later in life, which is believed to have led to his eventual murder. The Two Killings of Sam Cooke is another installment of Netflix’s original music documentary series ReMastered, attempting to create a holistic portrait of American soul legend Sam Cooke-one that doesn’t carelessly whitewash his story just because his crooner soul also appealed to white audiences. An autopsy report found a “severe” case of CTE. Flashing between depictions of New England Patriots’ Aaron Hernandez as a rising football star with an abusive, alcoholic dad to the one we know from recent headlines-his murderous rage and his killing of his friend, Odin Lloyd, and others-audiences see how many lost lives could have been avoided if authorities had only paid attention. ![]() Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandezĭirector Geno McDermott’s three-part 2020 Netflix documentary is as much a story of fame and power as it is what happens when mental illness, abuse, and repeated head injuries like the ones inflicted upon football players go unchecked. (Please, Netflix, don’t make us watch Josef Fritzl: Story of a Monster.)īelow, we help separate the truly compelling offerings from their trashier counterparts with our list-including movies, TV shows, and miniseries-of the best true crime documentaries available on Netflix.ġ. Still, this is always a tricky genre to navigate: for every noble award-winner like The Thin Blue Line, a lurid alternative is likely to pop up in your recommendations. ![]() ![]() Netflix in particular has made a name for itself in this niche, acquiring a strong slate of indie docs and producing some of their own, higher-profile works. There’s even been a rise in parodies of the genre, like American Vandal or Steve Martin’s Only Murders in the Building. From Making a Murderer to O.J.: Made in America to The Jinx, the last few years could be considered a Golden Age for telling real-life stories of misery. More than 50 years after the publishing of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, a pioneering work of the true crime genre, we’re experiencing a boom in the popularity of true crime, especially in film and television. ![]()
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