Waco is a limited series consisting of six episodes that are less than one hour each about the events of the 1993 clash between the Branch Davidians, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the FBI. It is an adaptation of two books: Gary Noesner’s Stalling for Time: My Life as an FBI Hostage Negotiator and David Thibodeau and Leon Whiteson’s A Place Called Waco. It stars Michael Shannon as Noesner, an almost unrecognizable Taylor Kitsch as David Koresh and Rory Culkin (Macaulay’s little brother) as Thibodeau.

I will watch anything with Shannon in it, and mom loves watching movies based on real life events even if she lived through them unlike me. Even though I lived through it, I do not remember it well because I had other priorities like graduating from high school and going to college. Plus when a news story becomes so big, it has the opposite effect on me, which is probably why I do not get my news from television. Watching Waco reminded me of broadcast network television movies about news stories such as I Know My Name Is Steven or The Deliberate Stranger where you are completely carried away by the story as if it is unfolding before you and not events that already occurred, but it does not feel like a paint by numbers production. The best compliment that I can give a drama is forgetting that I am watching a drama.

Waco irritated many viewers and reviewers about pulling punches on its depiction of Koresh. While I theoretically agree, you have to remember a few things about this movie as a production of its time and place in history. It was released on a cable network in 2018 when another cult had taken power of the nation. While Timothy McVeigh probably did not need an excuse to kill, it would be foolish to go in too hard on a bunch of people who brutally died and inspire more McVeighs. Also this production is half based on a person’s account who was friends with McVeigh. What do you expect?

Waco judiciously measures out its subtle criticism of the cult leader, and as a fan of movies that depict the ways that people get sucked into cults, I think that it was a solid artistic choice that one day you are just having a deep conversation with a guy and the next you are facing down the force of the federal government while protecting his child bride and kid. As someone who was brought up fundamentalist, I recognized more similarities with the movie’s depiction of Koresh’s recruitment and retention methods, and from the comfort of your couch, it is easy to see it coming, but I get on a visceral level that especially for men who may not have deep friendships, there is a strong appeal to finding a community willing to sit in uncomfortable spaces and accept you. Why would you leave your home? Add God into the mix and equating leaving when things get tough as abandoning God, it makes a kind of sense. I will happily sign a waiver that the limited series creators were right to initially show them as relatable to elicit viewer sympathy and make the Branch Davidians relatable, and I think that it was a wise move to air a mini documentary series, Revelations of Waco, after the series so people could get an unadulterated sense of the real brutality of Koresh (he basically fought and nearly killed someone to become the head of that sect). Unfortunately you really have to dig for it to find it online-Paramount Network’s website or YouTube. John Leguiziamo does some of his finest work as Jacob Vazquez, an ATF agent whom Koresh was trying to turn and a fictional character based on a real life peron.

I did not watch Waco expecting to deeply relate to a character, but I definitely felt a kinship with Noesner as Shannon played him than the real-life person, whom I later watched give speeches! “We’re changing into something I didn’t sign up for.” While I do not work for the federal government, I have never seen such an accurate portrayal of working for a government agency. Noesner has a tricky balancing act. He has to fight his coworkers to protect the public while the public conflates him with all government action when he has no individual power or responsibility to stop that action. He is constantly forced to educate people about the distinction among the different agencies, his role within the agency and the actual amount of power that he has within it at a time when a person does not care about the nuances of bureaucracy and only sees him as a lightning rod to direct their anger. Noesner sighs, “We’re changing into something I didn’t sign up for,” which is the song for our people who work for the government. When Koresh and his followers tell government workers that they have the power to stop this, even when they try, we know that they do not, which is the frustration that Vazquez and Noesner share. They have an essential but frustrating job. Among tough guys, they are seen as wimps. It is the other side of films like Experimenter: The Stanley Milgram Story that blame individuals for carrying out the orders of the agentic state. Even when individuals do not, they are easily replaced, become exiled from the agency and like a slow-moving train, the state’s action cannot be stopped and does not change.

Waco is also a treat for people who want to see the finest character actors alive. It is like a mini Boardwalk Empire reunion with Shea Whigham as the head of tactical and Paul Sparks who played Mickey Doyle as Koresh’s right hand man. Mandy’s Andrea Riseborough plays one of the wives, and Grandma and The Assistant’s Julia Garner plays a child bride and Thibodeau’s (fictionalized) love interest. I believed that Kitsch was just a pretty face with no substance after seeing him in American Assassin, John Carter and Battleship (Friday Night Lights does not count), but he becomes Koresh and basically gets a point in the Christian Bale credibility kitty. If Shannon, one of the greatest American actors, wants to work with you, you have to be good.

If I had to complain about Waco, I have to confess that I was irritated that the radio talk show personality is still being used as the Greek chorus, voice of wisdom, truth teller. I could stomach it when I watched the original miniseries The Stand, but too much life experience makes me associate such characters with Alex Jones and Rush Limbaugh so while I am supposed to think well of them, I have the opposite reaction so while Eric Lange does a great job injecting a dose of optimism and objectivity in case viewers did not understand how the movie wanted them to think of the real life events, I think that movies pushing this trope are lulling people into trusting the worst elements of our media.

I highly recommend Waco with the caveat that it treats Koresh with kid gloves, but perspicacious viewers will still be able to see his sinister side. It is an acting extravaganza and reminds us of an important point in history that is germane to our discourse on reform in law enforcement.