Wormwood is two productions in one. One is a theatrical version of an actual CIA operation gone wrong: the murder of Dr. Frank Olson. The other is the interview by the director with Olson's son revealing what happened within the family regarding what the initial claim by the CIA/government that Olson committed suicide.
I haven't ever made a movie, but I've watched quite a few of course. I generally like those based on true stories quite a bit if they're compelling and enlightening. I also love well made documentaries as a result. So, I should be thrilled with this combining of the two. The story is surely interesting, even jarring, enough. But, I'm less than bowled over here. It's probably because it's told in six episodes which could have been condensed to lesser theatrical repetition, to better effect. I'd have preferred a more concise and simple documentary.
I find the interviews with the son, lawyers, a surly author, and others to be most compelling. The re-enacted theatrical parts less so. There is a bombshell of a story here and instead of blowing it out, the theatrical part adds a lot of dark murky rambling. The absolute truth is what we're after as is Olson's son.
In the final episode we get a pretty clear picture of why Frank Olson was erased by the CIA as an dangerous dissident. The tipping point was the famed LSD experiment in which the CIA agents were taken on a weekend conference and given the drug without their consent. Olson's already conflicted views of what the agency was doing, even his own work in the biological warfare division, had been causing his great duress. This LSD thing took him over an edge and he had something close to a psychotic break likely egged on to a precipice by the LSD. Dr. Olson begged to be let go, fired. He wanted out and, like another shady organization, your in for life
Powerful people in the agency decided he was no longer an asset and would likely be a whistleblower if released. There is an unbelievable story here and the interviews bring the crux of it out. You have just got to have the patience to wade through the dual productions. I wonder how many viewers will be a bit upset at the author who claims to know the real story yet won't tell? Is he afraid for his own life or is he just protecting informants he's promised not to implicate? He says too much without telling which makes him one of the bad guys.
This is a complicated horror that goes on for the son, and likely created great harm in the entire family's life after Frank Olson's death. One thing is certain in the day we find ourselves in now where government trust is at a low-point, this just adds to that dis-trust.
There's a good 2-hour documentary in these six episodes and you just have to put up with the style in which the producers and director have chosen. I guess I thought Errol Morris would have gone one way and not making a movie with a documentary nested inside. Perhaps I'm missing the high-art of telling a story but I'd rather he just went the documentary route.
I haven't ever made a movie, but I've watched quite a few of course. I generally like those based on true stories quite a bit if they're compelling and enlightening. I also love well made documentaries as a result. So, I should be thrilled with this combining of the two. The story is surely interesting, even jarring, enough. But, I'm less than bowled over here. It's probably because it's told in six episodes which could have been condensed to lesser theatrical repetition, to better effect. I'd have preferred a more concise and simple documentary.
I find the interviews with the son, lawyers, a surly author, and others to be most compelling. The re-enacted theatrical parts less so. There is a bombshell of a story here and instead of blowing it out, the theatrical part adds a lot of dark murky rambling. The absolute truth is what we're after as is Olson's son.
In the final episode we get a pretty clear picture of why Frank Olson was erased by the CIA as an dangerous dissident. The tipping point was the famed LSD experiment in which the CIA agents were taken on a weekend conference and given the drug without their consent. Olson's already conflicted views of what the agency was doing, even his own work in the biological warfare division, had been causing his great duress. This LSD thing took him over an edge and he had something close to a psychotic break likely egged on to a precipice by the LSD. Dr. Olson begged to be let go, fired. He wanted out and, like another shady organization, your in for life
Powerful people in the agency decided he was no longer an asset and would likely be a whistleblower if released. There is an unbelievable story here and the interviews bring the crux of it out. You have just got to have the patience to wade through the dual productions. I wonder how many viewers will be a bit upset at the author who claims to know the real story yet won't tell? Is he afraid for his own life or is he just protecting informants he's promised not to implicate? He says too much without telling which makes him one of the bad guys.
This is a complicated horror that goes on for the son, and likely created great harm in the entire family's life after Frank Olson's death. One thing is certain in the day we find ourselves in now where government trust is at a low-point, this just adds to that dis-trust.
There's a good 2-hour documentary in these six episodes and you just have to put up with the style in which the producers and director have chosen. I guess I thought Errol Morris would have gone one way and not making a movie with a documentary nested inside. Perhaps I'm missing the high-art of telling a story but I'd rather he just went the documentary route.