The Killing of America (Sheldon Renan & Leonard Schrader, 1981)

8/10
A documentary from 1982 effectively banned in the States - never released, distributed, televised or sold there. It looks at the shocking rise of gun violence in America from roughly the assassination of JFK to the assassination of Lennon - so almost two decades. It's done vignette style, where one crime after another is shown, entirely using archival footage and with a pretty minimalist, explanatory voice-over. Nothing is not shown or censored, so you're essentially seeing people die on screen (or photographs of dead people) for 90 minutes. The more famous crimes are shown (Kennedy, Lennon, the attempt on Reagan, the Manson murders, Berkowitz, Gacy, etc) but it also focuses on some that have slipped out of the collective consciousness - local sniper rifle attacks, hostage situations, etc. It's very sensationalist (though I wouldn't call it exploitative) and it's sad that the gun control issues it raises are ones still being debated 30 years later. I found it very gripping, though I can see where some would be put off.