Which
could produce a higher body count, a potential zombie apocalypse or Whitey
Bulger? Massachusetts gets it hard either way to judge from two documentaries
screening at this year’s Hot Docs in Canada.
While
it has already aired on Epix here in the U.S., Alexandre O. Philippe’s Doc of the Dead is only now shambling up
north. Appropriately so, considering the debate over whether zombies should be
fast or slow factors prominently in the film, along with the unholy trinity of
zombie franchises: Romero’s Living Dead films,
Max Brooks’ World War Z books, and
Robert Kirkman’s Walking Dead graphic
novels and television series.
DOD offers up some
amusing commentary, but Rob Kuhns’ Birth of the Living Dead remains a more satisfying zombie doc experience.
However, the film provides a useful public service by establishing the state-by-state
criteria for zombie survivor expectancy. Wyoming ranks highest due to its low
population density and high degree of personal gun ownership, whereas New
Jersey comes in dead last.
While
the Bay State would not fare much better than Jersey for zombie survivability,
they have also had the Winter Hill Gang to contend with. Unfortunately, the FBI
was more of a hindrance than a help bring notorious South Boston gangster
Whitey Bulger to justice. It is a shameful story of corruption and ambition
detailed at length in Joe Berlinger’s Whitey:
United States of America vs. James J. Bulger.
Unfortunately,
in his zeal to expose the Federal government’s culpability, Berlinger lets off his
ostensive subject pretty easy, even presenting Bulger’s self-serving myth-spinning
calls recorded by his attorney stand without any rebuttal. Still, there are
moments of shocking drama in the film, especially with regards to Stephen
Rakes, one of Berlinger’s initial POV figures, who was murdered during the
course of the Bulger trial.
