The real-life crime genre has a new medium, or perhaps even a whole new language and grammar: police body cam footage. Countenances of those harmed, witnesses and possible perpetrators appear suddenly to the cameras, sometimes in the harsh glare of headlights or flashlights as the police arrive, their faces and voices eloquent of wariness or panic or anger or dubiously feigned naivety. And we often incidentally glimpse the expressions of the law enforcement personnel, one waiting impassively while the other conducts the inquiry with what occasionally seems like extraordinary diffidence – though maybe this is because they know they are being recorded.
We have previously seen the streaming service real-life crime film The Gabby Petito Case, about the killing of an Instagram influencer by her boyfriend, whose main point of interest was body cam footage and in which, as in this film, the law enforcement seemed surprisingly lenient 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 grim case of a Florida mother in Ocala, Florida, a African American woman whose four young kids reportedly bothered and tormented her neighbor, Susan Lorincz. In 2023, after an increasing number of neighbour-dispute incidents in which the authorities were repeatedly called, the accused shot Owens dead through her locked door, when Owens went to the neighbor's residence to confront her about throwing objects at her children.
The arresting officers found proof that the suspect had done internet searches into Florida’s “stand your ground” laws, which permit residents and others to use firearms if there is a reasonable belief of danger. The documentary builds its story with the body cam footage generated during the multiple officer calls to the scene before the shooting, and then at the horrific and chaotic incident site itself – introduced by emergency call recordings of Lorincz calling the police in a melodramatically shaky voice. There is also jail video of Lorincz which has a disturbing, unsettling appeal.
The film does not really imply anything too complicated about Lorincz, or any mitigating factors. She is clearly unstable, although the children are heard calling her a derogatory term, an hurtful taunt. The film is presented as an illustration of how self-defense regulations generate unnecessary and heartbreaking bloodshed. But the fact of firearm possession and the second amendment (that historic American constitutional privilege that a deceased pundit famously claimed made firearm fatalities a price worth paying) is not much highlighted.
It is possible to watch the officer questioning segments here and feel astonished at how minimal concern the officers took in this aspect. At what time did she purchase the firearm? Did she receive any instruction on handling it? Was this the first time she discharged the weapon? How was the gun kept in her home? Could it have been easily accessible and prepared? The police aren’t shown asking any of these undoubtedly important questions (though they may have done in footage that didn’t make the edit). Or is gun ownership so normal it would be like asking about kitchen appliances or bread heaters?
For what appeared to her local residents a very long time, the suspect was not even taken into custody and indicted, only detained and even offered a hotel stay away from home for the night (another point of comparison, by the way, with the a prior incident). And when she was ultimately formally arrested in the detention area, there is an remarkable scene in which the individual simply refuses to stand, will not extend her arms for the handcuffs, not aggressively, but with the politely self-pitying air of someone whose psychological state means that she just can’t do it. Did the gentle handling up until that point led her to think that this could be effective?
It didn’t; and the jury’s verdict is revealed in the closing credits. A deeply sobering picture of American crime and punishment.
A tech enthusiast and lifestyle blogger with a passion for sharing practical insights and inspiring creativity in everyday life.
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