A very important show on HBO tonight: The OSCAR NOMINATED "Waco: Rules of Engagement" In addition to an Oscar nomination, WACO: THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT was honored with the prestigious International Documentary Association's Distinguished Documentary Achievement Award in 1997.
It is on at 6:30PM EST-- so check your listings.
Here are some reviews: waco93.com
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Such as: "Two Thumbs Up..." Siskel & Ebert
COMPELLING OSCAR® NOMINEE WACO: THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT REVEALS THE UNTOLD STORY BEHIND THE GOVERNMENT SIEGE OF THE BRANCH DAVIDIAN COMPOUND WHEN IT DEBUTS APRIL 19 ON HBO.
Film Airs On Sixth Anniversary Of Controversial Siege
It started with a small botched raid by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) on Feb. 28, 1993. The target: The mount Carmel compound (located just outside of Waco, Texas) of the Branch Davidians, an offshoot of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church led by the charismatic David Koresh. The official reason; reports of a huge stockpile of automatic and semi-automatic weapons, some of them illegal, and possible criminal sexual practices within the sect.
Four agents and six Branch Davidians died that day, sparking a 51-day siege, first by the ATF and later the FBI. It ended in an inferno that killed 76 sect members, including 29 children under age 14. The government called it mass suicide, but WACO: THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT suggests the truth might be otherwise when it debuts MONDAY, APRIL 19 (6:30-8:00 p.m. ET) - the sixth anniversary of the deadly fire - on HBO.
Nominated for an Academy Award¨ in the Documentary Features category last year, WACO: THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT combines archival news footage, video and audio tapes, testimony from the televised House of Representatives investigation, and interviews with survivors. The Branch Davidians originated in California and lived near Waco for 60 years before coming to the attention of the ATF in the early '90s. The sect had acquired a huge cache of automatic and semiautomatic weapons, which it maintained were resold for profit to finance their compound. The government, however, publicly labeled the sect as a threat to the community and its own members, while emphasizing their unorthodox lifestyle and alleging sex crimes that intensified media coverage.
The Feb. 28 raid backfired, and was followed in subsequent weeks by excruciated negotiations and attempts to root out the besieged with spotlights, embargoes and all-night blasting of Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walking." During one taped conversation heard in the documentary, a government negotiator promises, "Nobody's comin' in there...you got my word..." However, on April 19, the FBI went in with tanks and highly flammable tear gas.
The tanks bored huge holes in the compound's wooden structures, creating a ventilation system likened to a pot-bellied stove that feeds a fire. One expert testified that the extreme concentration of tear gas could be lethal, especially to children. Attempting to escape the gas, sect members took refuge in a windowless concrete kitchen bunker that shortly became an oven. Heat-sensitive infrared cameras on reconnaissance aircraft show suspicious flashes which appear to be coming from the tanks moments before a series of fireballs ripped through the compound.
Although FBI representatives testified before the House that its agents never fired a shot, some experts believe those flashes could have been gunfire that ignited the tear gas. The authorities pointed to gunshot wounds in some of the charred corpses as evidence of a suicide pact, although the audio tapes from FBI bugs that are heard in the documentary do not reveal any discussion of a suicide plan by sect members. Fire and rescue equipment were not permitted near the inferno for crucial minutes by FBI agents who cited safety concerns.
Attorney General Janet Reno maintained that law enforcement agents acted responsibly, and the official House of Representatives investigation concluded that the fire was started deliberately by the Branch Davidians. WACO: THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT suggests this may not be the case - the truth may not be what the public was led to believe.
The executive producers of WACO: THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT are Dan Gifford and Amy Sommer Gifford; producers and writers, Dan Gifford, William Gazecki and Michael McNulty; director, William Gazecki. For HBO: executive producer Sheila Nevins; producer, Nancy Abraham.
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And the Web Site:
waco93.com
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