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The real-life crime category has an innovative format, or perhaps even a whole new language and grammar: police body cam footage. Countenances of those harmed, observers and potential offenders loom up to the cameras, sometimes in the intense brightness of vehicle beams or torches as the officers approach, their expressions and tones eloquent of wariness or fear or indignation or dubiously feigned naivety. And we often incidentally glimpse the faces of the officers themselves, one standing by blankly while the other conducts the inquiry with what sometimes seems like extraordinary diffidence – though maybe this is because they know they are being recorded.

A Growing Trend in Documentary Filmmaking

We have already had 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 police seemed extraordinarily lax with the perpetrator. There is also the acclaimed short film Incident by Bill Morrison, made exclusively of body cam film. Now comes a new film by Geeta Gandbhir about the grim case of Ajike Owens in a city in Florida, a African American woman 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 repeatedly called, Lorincz fatally shot Owens through her locked door, when the victim went to the neighbor's residence to address her about hurling items at her children.

The Police Inquiry and Legal Context

The investigating authorities found proof that Lorincz had done online research into Florida’s “stand your ground” laws, which permit householders and others to use firearms if there is a reasonable belief of danger. The movie builds its story with the officer recordings captured during the multiple officer calls to the location before the shooting, and then at the disturbing and disordered crime scene itself – prefaced by 911 audio material of Lorincz calling the police in a dramatically trembling voice. There is also police cell footage of Lorincz which has a chilly, queasy fascination.

Depiction of the Suspect

The film does not really imply anything too complex about Lorincz, or any extenuating circumstance. She is obviously disturbed, although the children are heard calling her “the Karen”, an ugly jibe. The production is presented as an example of how self-defense regulations generate senseless and tragic bloodshed. But the reality of firearm possession and the second amendment (that historic American constitutional privilege that a deceased pundit notoriously said made gun deaths a necessary cost) is not much emphasized.

Officer Questioning and Gun Culture

It is possible to watch the officer questioning segments here and feel surprised 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? Was it just on the couch, loaded and ready? The police aren’t shown asking any of these surely relevant questions (though they could have inquired in recordings that didn’t make the edit). Or is possessing a firearm so commonplace it would be like asking about kitchen appliances or toasters?

Detention and Consequences

For what appeared to her neighbors a very long time, Lorincz was not even arrested and charged, only held and even offered a hotel stay away from home for the night (another point of comparison, by the way, with the Gabby Petito case). And when she was finally officially taken into custody in the holding cell, there is an extraordinary sequence in which the individual simply refuses to stand, will not extend her arms for the handcuffs, not hostilely, but with the courteously pathetic demeanor of someone whose psychological state means that she is unable to comply. Had the kid-gloves treatment 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 revealed in the closing credits. A very sombre portrayal of American crime and punishment.