🔗 Share this article

The real-life crime category has a new medium, or perhaps even a whole new language and grammar: officer-worn camera recordings. Countenances of those harmed, observers and potential offenders appear suddenly to the cameras, sometimes in the intense brightness of headlights or torches as the police arrive, their faces and voices expressing caution or panic or indignation or suspiciously contrived innocence. And we frequently catch sight of the faces of the law enforcement personnel, one waiting impassively while the other asks the questions with what sometimes seems like remarkable hesitation – though maybe this is because they know they are being recorded.

A Growing Trend in Non-Fiction Cinema

We have already had the streaming service true-crime documentary The Gabby Petito Case, about the slaying of an Instagram influencer by her partner, whose primary focus was body cam footage and in which, as in this film, the police seemed extraordinarily lax with the suspect. There is also the acclaimed short film Incident by Bill Morrison, made exclusively of body cam film. Now comes Geeta Gandbhir’s documentary about the tragic incident of a Florida mother in a city in Florida, a woman of colour whose children allegedly harassed and tormented her white neighbour, a local resident. In 2023, after an increasing number of neighborhood conflicts in which the police were summoned multiple times, Lorincz fatally shot Owens through her locked door, when Owens went to the neighbor's residence to address her about hurling items at her children.

The Investigation and Legal Context

The investigating authorities found evidence that Lorincz had done internet searches into Florida’s “stand your ground” laws, which allow householders and others to shoot if there is a reasonable belief of threat. The movie constructs its narrative with the officer recordings captured during the repeated police visits to the scene before the shooting, and then at the horrific and chaotic incident site itself – prefaced by emergency call recordings of Lorincz contacting authorities in a dramatically trembling voice. There is also jail video of Lorincz which has a disturbing, unsettling appeal.

Portrayal of the Accused

The film does not really imply anything too complicated about Lorincz, or any extenuating circumstance. She is obviously disturbed, although the kids are heard calling her a derogatory term, an ugly jibe. The production is showcased as an example of how “stand your ground” laws generate unnecessary and heartbreaking violence. But the fact of firearm possession and the constitutional right (that historic American constitutional privilege that a late commentator notoriously said made firearm fatalities a price worth paying) is not much emphasized.

Police Interrogation and Firearm Norms

It is feasible to watch the officer questioning segments here and feel surprised at how little interest the officers took in this aspect. When did she buy her gun? Where (if anywhere) did she train in its use? Had she ever had occasion to fire it before? Where did she store it in the house? Was it just on the couch, loaded and ready? The authorities aren’t shown asking any of these undoubtedly important questions (though they could have inquired in recordings that were not included). Or is possessing a firearm so normal it would be like asking about kitchen appliances or bread heaters?

Detention and Consequences

For what seemed to her neighbors a very long time, the suspect was not even arrested and charged, only detained and even offered a hotel stay away from home for the night (another parallel, incidentally, with the a prior incident). And when she was ultimately formally arrested in the detention area, there is an extraordinary sequence in which Lorincz simply refuses to stand, refuses to put her wrists out for the cuffs, not aggressively, but with the courteously pathetic demeanor of someone whose mental health means that she is unable to comply. Had the kid-gloves treatment up until that point encouraged her to think that this might actually work?

Conclusion and Verdict

It didn’t; and the panel's decision is revealed in the end titles. A very sombre portrayal of U.S. justice and consequences.