Christopher Spencer's documentary about David Koresh and the siege (and following conflagration) at the Mount Carmel Center outside Waco, Texas that resulted in eigthy-two deaths in 1993 was an even-handed, comprehensive, empathetic, and emotionally literate piece of film making and in its inclusion of interviews with nine of the survivors (as well as FBI men who had been present, and involved, at the time) it had something of an ace up its sleeve.
It made, at times, for troubling viewing (one of the first lines we hear is "I just remember the babies headstones") but it was also a fascinating, absorbing insight into what makes a man become a cult leader, why people are attracted to follow that man/cult, and what lessons could be learned in the way the FBI, the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives), the US government, and the media covered it. The motive of every involved party is examined and nobody is left entirely off the hook. Even the general public come in for a mild rebuke for their part in proceedings.
Usefully, too, there is plenty of build up showing us events that happened years before the siege (sometimes using dramatic reconstruction, sometimes witness testimony). Koresh is described as a con man with a bible in one hand and a machine gun in another, very much the archetype of your Southern Gothic preacher steeped in Old Testament ideas of fire and brimstone, yet he bewildered, beguiled, and mesmerised his followers. Some of whom called him God and some of whom, even now, miss their life in the cult under Koresh. A cult we know, mostly because of Koresh, as the Branch Davidians.
Survivors make comparisons with Jesus Christ, another leader executed for his beliefs at the age of 33, and Koresh, himself, said "what if I am the messiah?". Something he increasingly went on to believe. President Bill Clinton took a somewhat different view calling Koresh "dangerous, irrational, and probably insane".
It's a view it's hard not to endorse but the interviews with survivors like Heather Burns, Kathy Jones, Charles Pace, Liz Baranya, Kathy Schroeder, and Livingston Fagan (from the UK and Australia as well as the US and a racially mixed bunch to boot) reveal, for the most part, normal (whatever that is) folk, just trying to navigate their way through life. It'd be instructive to learn what had bought them to Koresh, to the Branch Davidians. Did they lack something in their own families? Did they want for some deeper emotional belonging of a type that can't be found in the cruel capitalist society we all must live under?
That we don't find out is one of the only missteps in the nearly 3hr running length (I believe edited down from an original four hour duration). We do, however, get a fairly rounded portrait of what Koresh's life was before he began identifying as the son of God.
Born Vernon Howell (the name change wasn't official until 1990), he'd been a stuttering, stammering, dyslexic kid who'd suffered bullying at school (like many many others before and after) who'd grown up into a long haired, hippy guitarist dude who travelled to Mount Carmel in 1981 to join the Branch Davidians who, by that point, had already been based there for twenty-six years.
As with all religions and all cults (they're, basically, the same thing) there is a confusing history of schisms and power struggles that led to their existence but the gist, as far I can work out, is that they were formed from the ashes of Victor Houteff's organisation, The Shepherd's Rod, a Davidian Seventh-Day adventist group. On Houteff's death (in 1955) that group was taken over by Benjamin Roden and when Roden died in '78, that passed to his widow Lois.
Lois (by then considered the prophet) loved fancy cars, fancy clothes, fancy shoes, and, of course, power (as befits a cult leader) but she also loved, it seems, David Koresh, and the two of them entered into a relationship. Koresh was in his twenties, Lois in her sixties. She was old enough to be his grandmother.
She miscarries his baby, the fact she got pregnant in the first place is the most surprising thing here, which Koresh says is because of her lack of faith. A lack of faith that meant he would have to take over as spiritual leader. Lois no longer served any purpose so Koresh and a few of his associates threw her out of the back of a moving truck. God had spoken to Koresh and, as we're often told, God works in mysterious ways. If God wants us to throw old age pensioners from the back of moving trucks, who are we, mere humans, to question him?
In 1985, Koresh visited the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem where he claims, and he would - wouldn't he?, to have had a divine visitation. A chariot of angels had taken him beyond Orion to interact with advanced civilisations who had developed laser technologies and were able to provide him with a panoramic understanding of the Bible in its entirety.
The Bible is a problematic book in many ways but perhaps mostly in how widely it can be interpreted. Koresh, described by one of his followers as "charismatic but full of truth", chose to interpret both the Bible, and his regular chats with God (the boss), as a message that there was no need for him, or his followers, to lead a normal life, no need to invest in the future, no need to plan, because God was coming to save them - and he was coming soon.
He became obsessed with the Book of Revelation and the Seventh Seal, eschatological representations of Babylon and those oppressed by Babylon. He not only 'knew' only the lamb of God could open the seven seals but he was convinced he was that lamb of God and he came to see that the USA was the Babylon that he, and his followers, were fighting against.
To toughen them up for the oncoming 'tribulations' he had them working out on obstacle courses but when the apocalypse resolutely refused to arrive in Waco, Koresh went looking for it. A self-fulfilling prophecy in the most literal way imaginable.
The glorification of death is always one of the worst parts of any Abrahamic faith. Another obstacle, far bigger than anything on Koresh's crazy version of the Krypton Factor, for any right minded person would be the worship, to the point of fetishisation, of virginity. Koresh used it to justify his paedophilia.
Koresh had children with some of the girls (and they were girls, often under age) in Mount Carmel and, as his messiah complex grew stronger and stronger, he formulated an idea called the New Light which forbade physical contact, even holding hands, between husbands and wives in his movement. The women, those of child bearing age, should save themselves for Koresh and Koresh only. This way they could have his babies, righteous babies. He claimed ownership of all the women in the world and women at Mount Carmel, in true ISIS style, were forced to burn pictures of their husbands.
The penny dropped for some that they were in a cult and a few escaped. Midnight flits were the order of the day (one girl, seemingly unaware she's paraphrasing the lyrics to Middle of the Road's 1970 smash 'Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep', claims she "woke up one morning and momma was gone") and' once on the other side, some escapees tried to get the authorities to investigate what was happening, the paedophilia specifically. Nobody cared.
They started caring two years later when gunshots were heard inside Mount Carmel and a UPS driver informed the sheriff that he'd been tasked with delivering hand grenades there. It came at a good time for the ATF. They were trying to attract funding and an armed cult in Texas looked great for their case. They rented a house across from the compound and sent an interloper in.
His name was Robert Rodriquez, he's interviewed for the film, and, soon, Koresh, set about trying to convert him. It didn't work and once Rodriquez had confirmed the stockpiling of weapons a search warrant was granted for 28th February 1993. 'Showtime' as some refer to the planned morning raid now and, like so many other 'show's', the media had been tipped off. Not useful when the element of surprise was paramount.
It wasn't long before the shooting started and most accounts say it was the ATF who fired first. One member of the Branch Davidians reported the ATF to the FBI. Another one shot himself and joined the six who'd been shot dead by the ATF. Four ATF agents, too, were dead. Koresh was wounded and the Branch Davidians were concerned he may die and they'd be left without spiritual guidance.
The siege had begun and the FBI had now got involved. Koresh agreed he'd send the children out - the ones that he had not fathered at least - and he was true to his word on this. Once on the other side, the children were treated to sweets, sugar, and freedom. They loved it. They did not appear to miss David Koresh or Mount Carmel whatsoever.
Video footage of the children enjoying themselves was sent back into the compound with the intention of tugging on the heartstrings of the parents still there. It backfired. Badly. Within David Koresh's Branch Davidians, maternal and paternal instincts were very much secondary to being a servant of God.
After eighteen children and two adults had been released things seemed to be improving. But then two things happened that could only have made things worse. Firstly an FBI sniper team arrived "honed to kill" and, secondly, Koresh reneged on his own promise to come out. He claimed he'd spoken to God and God had told him to stay put.
By this time Waco had become a worldwide news story and there were even t-shirt vendors setting up on the perimeters of the compound to make money out of tourists who'd come to rubberneck at events. One of which, and you can see him on the film, was Timothy McVeigh, who, two years later, would blow up the Alfred P.Murrah Building in Oklahoma City killing 171 people in an act of far right terrorism.
As reporters outside the compound described "a carnival atmosphere", inside it the carnival was (nearly) over. A huge banner was raised reading "GOD HELP US WE WANT THE PRESS" and one more child was permitted to leave the compound.
Her description of her walk from Mount Carmel to the waiting police is utterly chilling. She wasn't sure if she'd be shot in the back by the cult she was leaving or shot in the front by the people she was walking towards. Luckily, neither happened, but her teddy bear was shredded to pieces in case it contained a hidden bomb. Worse still, much worse, she was the last ever child to leave the Mount Carmel Center alive. Koresh's children may have had 'God's DNA' but they would die alongside him.
Koresh was accused of manipulating religion and even though apologists for Koresh refute this, and it does seem that the FBI could be crassly insensitive and that they made dangerous tactical and strategical errors, but, really, religion is all about interpretation and interpretation and manipulation make the easiest of bedfellows. Everyone will interpret beliefs in the way they want to. The 'Bible babble' that is mentioned in the film is a real, and dangerous, thing.
One thing the FBI can't be accused of is not providing the manpower. It's stated that, for Waco, the FBI formed possibly the largest US army ever to be deployed against civilians. There were over seven hundred 'soldiers' involved. They possibly didn't deploy their greatest brains. In an echo of the bizarre events during the US invasion of Panama and the toppling of Manuel 'Pineapple Face' Noriega, a few years earlier, the FBI started to blast the compound with music and sound, Nancy Sinatra's 'These Boots Were Made For Walkin'" joined an avant-garde playlist of cocks crowing, clocks ticking, and the sound of rabbits being slaughtered. Achy Breaky Heart on a continuous loop, however, was ruled out. You can go too far.
The left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing. FBI negotiators, who felt they were making some headway, were unaware the tactical team were using these disorientation techniques. Also, Koresh didn't seem overly phased by it. He just blasted his own music back at them. The siege was turning into a fucking soundclash.
All this just led to the Branch Davidians rallying round their leader. One follower, Kathy Schroeder, did, however, ask Koresh if she could leave. Koresh allowed her to do so and, interviewed now, Schroeder is still angry, still talks as if her 'side' did nothing wrong, and, for the most part, makes herself very difficult to like.
Another tactic that backfired was when the FBI tried to get the Branch Davidians to turn on their leader. They seemed unaware of how indoctrinated by him, and in how thrall to him, they had become. They tried to drive a wedge between Koresh and his number two, Steve Schneider, using the fact that Koresh had had a kid with Schneider's wife (and Schneider had not been able to) but that didn't work either. The next man out was the erudite and eccentric UK national Livingstone Fagan who was immediately put in a proto-Guantanamo orange jumpsuit.
Koresh was eventually sold the idea that he could write a book revealing his message and once done he could leave the compound. Koresh said it would take him a fortnight to write this book and he got to work on dictating it to Steve Schneider's wife, Judy, who typed it up. Koresh's spelling was atrocious so heavy editing was required.
Some took Koresh at his word, others felt he was playing for time. In Washington DC, the government had been informed that with each hour he was left in the compound, the likelihood of him molesting the, his own, children grew stronger. So on day 51 of the siege, it was decided, the FBI were going in.
They were pretty gung-ho about it too, this was what many of them had trained for. Tear gas was released into the building. The adults among the Branch Davidians all had gas masks but there were none that fitted the children. The FBI gassed them for six hours solid, Koresh handed out grenades, and the building caught fire. Still, Koresh would not let the children out.
They needed to die - like in the Bible. The remaining Branch Davidians now seem proud of those who remained in the compound (even if it was against their will) for putting God above their own life. They seem guilty that they didn't die more than they feel guilty that they let their own children burn to death. Nine adults were able to save themselves from the conflagration and each of them left their own children to die (although one saved a dog). Truly, Christianity is a death cult.
All in all, seventy-six Branch Davidians died in the flames, twenty-three of them were children. David Koresh was shot in the front of his head. To this day, nobody knows if he was shot by an FBI agent, one of his own followers, or by his own hand.
Also to this day, sadly, there are those who claim his 'book' had substance, those who say that God had judged Koresh harshly for misinterpreting scripture, and those who still believe that David Koresh was God. And in some ways, he was. Because God exists only in the mind and there's always a new God coming along to replace the last one, to force his (and it's almost always a 'his') will on weaker people, to exploit people's fears, and to ruin people's lives. God never ever does the decent thing and just fucks off and leaves us to it. No, God ensures that people never stop suffering. It doesn't matter if David Koresh was God or not because God is a load of made up bullshit and it's time everyone moved on and stopped killing each other in his name.
This was an excellent film and both a chilling and thought provoking watch. The story told was profoundly depressing but more depressing still is the knowledge that events like this will continue to happen time and time again.
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