Review: Netflix's 'Waco: American Apocalypse' is more balanced than its title suggests

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Waco: American Apocalypse
4 out of 5 Stars
Director: Tiller Russell
Genre: Documentary
Rated: TV-MA

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) – Studio Synopsis: This immersive three-part Netflix documentary series is the definitive account of what happened in Waco, Texas in 1993 when cult leader David Koresh faced off against the federal government in a bloody 51-day siege.

Review: Where do we begin? Thirty years ago, a botched raid of the Mount Carmel Center, a Waco compound where the David Koresh-led Branch Davidians were amassing a stockpile of illegal weapons, turned into a 51-day standoff that would leave 82 people dead.

I remember the surreal nature of watching the incident as it played out on the nightly news. Growing up in a conservative and religious environment might have given me insight into the Branch Davidians, but I was 16 years old and really wasn’t all that interested in the details. Maybe I was accustomed to fanaticism. It’s more likely that I was just more interested in music, movies, and girls.

In the decades since there have been numerous documentaries and a wild amount of theory and justification from those sympathetic to the Branch Davidians; those who saw them as a ticking timebomb; and people who were somewhere in between.

A few weeks ago, I was given early access to “Waco: American Apocalypse,” a three-part series from Netflix and director Tiller Russell (“Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer”). I binged all three episodes in one sitting and came away terrified by how timely it felt: How the incident at Waco has a legacy that has will continue to fuel anti-government conversations.

The series – which features a variety of point of views from the FBI, Branch Davidians, and journalists who were there – isn’t as overblown and sensational as the “American Apocalypse” half of its title suggests. While it is impossible to remove all bias from a filmmaker (and even more difficult to remove it from the audience), it never feels like Russell gets in the way of the varied point of views. It all amasses to a muddied landscape littered with the mistakes, the manipulation, the torture tactics, and miscalculations from all involved.

It’s a bleak and horrific media circus.

It's also an engrossing watch that is often as infuriating as it is terrifying. I found the recollections from surviving Branch Davidians to be particularly chilling. Sometimes our actions aren't interpreted in the way they are intended.

“Waco: American Apocalypse” is comprehensive and provides answers as it raises new questions.

What can we learn from this? History has a way of repeating itself.