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The real-life crime genre has a new medium, or perhaps even a completely fresh vocabulary and structure: officer-worn camera recordings. Countenances of those harmed, witnesses and potential offenders appear suddenly to the cameras, sometimes in the harsh glare of vehicle beams or torches as the police arrive, their expressions and tones eloquent of caution 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 remarkable hesitation – though perhaps this is because they are aware they are being recorded.

A Growing Trend in Documentary Filmmaking

We have previously seen the streaming service real-life crime film The Gabby Petito Case, about the killing of an Instagram influencer by her partner, 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, composed entirely of officer footage. Now comes Geeta Gandbhir’s documentary about the tragic incident of a Florida mother in a city in Florida, a African American woman whose four young kids reportedly bothered and antagonized her neighbor, a local resident. In 2023, after an increasing number of neighbour-dispute incidents in which the authorities were repeatedly called, the accused fatally shot Owens through her locked door, when the victim went to Lorincz’s house to confront her about hurling items at her children.

The Police Inquiry and State Laws

The arresting officers found evidence that the suspect had done online research into Florida’s “stand your ground” laws, which permit householders and others to shoot if there is a significant presumption of danger. The documentary builds its story with the body cam footage captured during the repeated police visits to the scene before the killing, and then at the disturbing and disordered incident site itself – prefaced by emergency call recordings of Lorincz contacting authorities in a melodramatically shaky voice. There is also jail video of Lorincz which has a chilly, queasy fascination.

Portrayal of the Accused

The film does not really suggest anything too complex about the neighbor, or any mitigating factors. She is obviously disturbed, although the kids are heard calling her a derogatory term, an ugly jibe. The film is presented as an illustration of how self-defense regulations lead to unnecessary and heartbreaking violence. But the fact of firearm possession and the second amendment (that historic American constitutional privilege that a deceased pundit famously claimed made gun deaths a necessary cost) is not much highlighted.

Officer Questioning and Firearm Norms

It is possible to watch the police interrogation scenes here and feel surprised at how minimal concern the officers took in this point. 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 police aren’t shown asking any of these surely relevant questions (though they may have done in recordings that didn’t make the edit). Or is gun ownership so normal it would be like asking about microwaves or bread heaters?

Arrest and Aftermath

For what seemed to her local residents a very long time, Lorincz 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, incidentally, with the a prior incident). And when she was finally officially taken into custody in the holding cell, there is an extraordinary sequence in which the individual simply declines to rise, refuses to put her wrists out for the cuffs, not hostilely, 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 might actually work?

Conclusion and Verdict

It didn’t; and the jury’s verdict is saved for the end titles. A deeply sobering picture of American crime and punishment.