Oklahoma City

Director: Barak Goodman
Screenwriters: Barak Goodman

Institute History

  • 2017 Sundance Film Festival

Description

In 1995, the Oklahoma City bombing rocked the nation as the most deadly act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history. Timothy McVeigh, convicted and executed for the crime in 2001, was a soldier, patriot, and war veteran. But a soldier is not supposed to crack. How McVeigh’s patriotism transformed into radicalism is a vital and haunting question whose exploration has never been more relevant.

Director Barak Goodman expertly crafts rarely seen archival footage to immerse us in an era when Ruby Ridge and the Branch Davidian tragedy dominated headlines. These clashes between the government and citizens frame a portrait of an embittered McVeigh, whose traumatic experience in the military influenced a dramatic recalibration of his view of the U.S. government. For McVeigh, the government was suddenly no longer a protective construct, but something to be destroyed.

Featuring new interviews with biographers, the FBI, and witnesses, Oklahoma City makes the nerves bristle as a cultural warning when sentiments of anti-government despondency walk tall with us today.

— Hussain Currimbhoy

Screening Details

Credits

As you use our Online Archives, please understand that the information presented from Festivals, Labs, and other activities is taken directly from official publications from each year. While this information is limited and doesn't necessarily represent the full list of participants (e.g. actors and crew), it is the list given to us by the main film/play/project contact at the time, based on the space restrictions of our publications. Each entry in the Online Archives is meant as a historical record of a particular film, play, or project at the time of its involvement with Sundance Institute. For this reason, we can only amend an entry if a name is misspelled, or if the entry does not correctly reflect the original publication. If you have questions or comments, please email [email protected]