Since I’ve been trying to watch a lot of the Oscar-nominated documentaries this year (just because it’s the one category I usually skip completely) I looked at Last Day of Freedom, the story that Bill Babbitt tells about the brother he delivered to the police. At just under 34 minutes, it’s not an easy film to watch. But I can see why it was nominated.
[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/49610192[/vimeo]
Bill Babbitt supported the death penalty … until it came knocking at his door.
Bill’s brother Manny, a Vietnam veteran, was convicted of murdering an elderly woman in her home. That’s never been in dispute. What comes into question is how military veterans are treated for PTSD.
I’m very conflicted by the messages in this film. Bill is distraught over Manny’s death. Manny did two tours of duty in Vietnam, sometimes in the most horrific parts of the war. He was never the same after he came home, and he testified that he didn’t know where he was that night.
But he did kill someone, a human being with family and friends. The question is whether or not his defense was mismanaged, and was the death penalty justified in this case. But there doesn’t seem to be any doubt that he killed her.
Aesthetically, it’s a well-made, animated documentary. The images come across as a collage most times; hand-drawn pictures laid over a background of photos or newspaper articles. The sketchy, stylized lines give you a little distance from the people involved, while letting your imagination fill in the rest.
The music by Fred Frith was perfect for the film. It’s raw guitar chords that are almost random in places, a little like Neil Young’s tracks in Dead Man, except more broken.
And Bill Babbitt is intelligent, articulate, and heartbroken at his brother’s death. Bill was the one to go to the police, who found Manny and turned him over to the arresting officers. His voice tells the story in this film. His face, as drawn by the animator, is the most prominent image.
Once you start watching, whether you approve or disapprove of what happened to Manny, it’s very hard to stop watching.
Everyone’s entitled to their opinion. I think the death penalty can be the right call, sometimes. I was living in Florida when Ted Bundy was executed; I heard the radio DJ joke “hey, I think the lights just flickered” and I thought that was funny and appropriate. I still do.
But is it better to err on the side of “I assume this person is a human being?” And like Bill said, it’s very easy to approve of the death penalty until it’s someone you know.
From his testimony, Manny didn’t know what he did. I don’t know that the family of the victim would care (if someone murdered a family member of mine I wouldn’t care whether they’d known what they were doing or not, I’d be so angry and sad I’d be okay with whatever awful thing happened to them.) PTSD among veterans is still misunderstood. Maybe he should’ve been sent to an institution, maybe life in prison, maybe not.
But I think it’s a question that should always be asked, and this film does a good job of asking it.
Last Day of Freedom is available on Netflix.