Ruby Ridge: Anatomy of a Tragedy (2000)

The Discovery Times Channel [now called the Investigation Discovery channel] investigates Ruby Ridge. (2000)

Runtime -- 44:59

Eight minutes into the documentary, the voice-over explains why Randall Weaver, who was charged with manufacturing, possessing, and selling illegal firearms in 1990, decided, with Vicki, his wife, to skip his court date. "With their paranoid fears now seemingly proving true," the narrator says, "the Weavers decide that rather than facing their destiny in court, their only option is to stay on the mountain."

The split-the-difference phrase "paranoid fears now seemingly proving true" is the documentary's way of sidestepping the most incendiary themes associated with the 1992 stakeout and killings at Ruby Ridge, a bluff near Naples, Idaho. These themes are left out in favor of a well-rendered and fairly strict -- though perhaps not universally accepted -- chronology of events. But if you're wondering whether right-wing survivalists are paranoid or if the government is out to get them, you won't find an answer here. The film concludes that both are true in this case.