What I’m watching: Two very different but intriguing documentaries

Date: 5/4/2021

On Hulu: Sasquatch

At first glance, this new documentary featuring investigative journalist David Holthouse seems like simply a shaggy dog story.

Holthouse, who is on camera throughout the new documentary series, recalls a story from his youth in 1993 while working on an illicit cannabis farm in northern California. He was a witness to hearing a story recounted by a frantic fellow worker that three of their crew were killed. The teller of this story said the bodies were torn apart  – something only a Sasquatch or Bigfoot would be capable of doing.

Years later, Holthouse questioned whether or not he imagined the exchange and if it was indeed a true memory, what really happened?

Doesn’t it sound like a story you’d hear from a guy sitting at a bar?

The result is a fascinating production that deftly blends a recounting of the illegal cannabis scene from the 1990s; the racial tension between whites and Mexican illegal immigrants that worked on the cannabis farms; and the presence of Bigfoot in the remote areas of Humboldt County in California.

Director Joshua Rofé follows Holthouse in his quest to get in touch with people who are knowledgeable about the cannabis scene in the 1990s as well as the status of the illicit industry today. He also follows the Bigfoot lead by interviewing people who seek evidence of the primate’s existence.

Holthouse treats this part of the documentary with respect. It would be easy to cast his interview subjects as comic relief but they are not. They are earnest, if not eccentric. He even interviewed Bob Gimlin who witnessed the controversial Bigfoot film shot film in 1967.

Holthouse approaches this story from all angles because until his investigation reaches the end, there are many questions.

What I enjoyed about this documentary was the fact that you thought it was going to be one thing, but turned into something else. It’s the prime rule of journalism not to make assumptions about a story such as this one, but to see where the information takes you.

I highly recommend this compelling story.

On Netflix: This is a Robbery

On March 18, 1990, two men dressed as Boston police officers conned their way into the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. They bound the two overnight guards and in the next 81 minutes stole millions of dollars of art, including Rembrandt’s only seascape.

The missing paintings have not been seen since and remains one of the outstanding open cases in American crime history.

This documentary series recreated the crime through interviews with witnesses, media reports and reenactments.

Produced over a seven-year period the documentary meticulously follows the events of the robbery and then seeks credible answers to the key questions: who were the robbers? Why did they select the paintings they stole? Where may be the paintings today?

The story is a rich one that starts with a museum with inadequate security and under-trained guards. It progresses to an examination of the forensic science in the days before DNA and the use of stolen fine art as a bargaining chip by organized crime. It also discusses how the interest of law enforcement in a case such as important as this one can fade over time, despite the fact it has never been solved.

Director Colin Barnicle keeps the tone of the film as matter-of-fact and actually presents a credible scenario of who committed the crime.

I’m not the biggest true crime fan, but this was simply solid journalism by presenting as many angles of the story as possible and tying them together in a logical and non-sensationalistic manner.