Tower
Composite Score: 87.1
Featuring: Monty Muir, Violett Beane, Aldo Ordoñez, Blair Jackson, Vicky Illk, Séamus Bolivar-Ochoa, Josephine McAdam, Claire Wilson, John “Artly” Fox, Houston McCoy, and Brenda Bell
Director: Keith Maitland
Writer: Pamela Colloff
Genres: Documentary, Animation, Crime, History
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Box Office: $101,987 worldwide
My take on Watching This Film:
Tower is Keith Maitland’s documentary about the University of Texas tower shootings of 1966. It utilizes rotoscope animation, archival footage, and interviews with those involved to give audiences a comprehensive understanding of the events of that day and their aftermath. Actors play certain real life people, speaking their words as if they were being said at the time of the shooting before the back half of the film introduces us to the people themselves, allowing us to hear their stories from their own voices. The unique style of the documentary sets it apart and does a good job of drawing the audience into the story, giving it a cinematic quality without ever sacrificing the realism of the situation. It’s one of the most artfully made and well-delivered documentaries I’ve ever watched, and the cinematic nature of its first half combined with the revelation of the real faces in its back half makes for a truly poignant watch that’s equal parts enjoyable, moving, and challenging. The UT tower shooting was the deadliest mass shooting event in the United States to date in 1966, and it remains the twelfth-deadliest of all time now (an even greater tragedy). The film seeks to connect that original context with the modern audience in a different way than many films and stories about gun violence – it connects the audience with the people involved on a personal level rather than making sweeping statements about guns and control and all that other stuff. On one hand, it certainly brings about a more emotive reaction, inviting empathy and sympathy for the victims more effectively than a news story, GoFundMe, or social media rant ever could. At the same time, those not inclined to see gun control as a solution to the gun violence epidemic in the U.S. can watch this film without ever having that belief overtly challenged, which is certainly an issue. For me, Tower is a brilliantly made, engaging, and emotionally charged documentary worthy of a watch by probably everyone and more than deserving of mention among the greats. At the same time, it should be pointed out that it should spur further thought and conversation about reform in America around guns to curb mass shootings, as this tragedy occurred almost sixty years ago, and we’ve since had an increase in these events rather than a de-escalation. If you’d like to see the film for yourself, you can find it with your library card on Hoopla or Kanopy or rent it on most other streaming platforms.
