Delayed Reaction: The Witness

The Pitch: Kitty Genovese's brother investigates the truth of what happened on the night of her murder.

I was in a Kitty Genovese mood one night. After 37 left me cold and without insight, I found this gem on Netflix to pair with it. Bill Genovese is Kitty's younger brother. He's been obsessed with his sister's famous murder for most of his life and is seeking closure. There isn't a "truth" to find though. No smoking gun recording or account that will set the record straight and make everything better for him. So, the documentary becomes about Bill searching for a way to get past this obsession.
Naturally, he begins with verifying the story. His sister has become the symbol of public apathy, but should she be? Was she really ignored by 37 people who saw her getting killed? Between his difficulty tracking any of these people down and the accounts of that night they provided*, it's clear that the investigative reporting at the time for the story wasn't great. But it made for a great headline. How does the saying go: When legend become fact, print the legend.

*Obviously, the witnesses had 50 years to forget details, convince themselves of another truth, or lie about what they saw. Regardless, there is a big difference between hearing something and actually seeing something.

A movie just about tracking down the accuracy of the 37 accounts would be fine. However, this doesn't stop there. Bill realizes that path is a dead end for closure so he looks elsewhere. There's the deeply awkward meeting with Kitty's murderer's reverend son or the chilling recreation of that night Kitty was killed, complete with an actress playing Kitty, screaming for help. I loved that the conclusion is that he needs to take Kitty's life back: make her into a person again, not a symbol. That was more satisfying than if it would've been about getting a retraction in the newspaper or something.
I have no problems with the content of the documentary. Some of the other elements weren't as great. This is a vanity project. There's no confusion about that. It's as much about Bill as it is about Kitty, but it doesn't put him under a thorough microscope. He's given the hero treatment. His only flaw is that he cares too much. He didn't really need to be front and center of the documentary if that's all the film has to say about him. And, this could've been edited together a bit more coherently. There's a lot of good parts but they don't always flow together. Overall, this was quite enjoyable and informative though.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend