Back in 1966, a tragedy occurred at the University of Texas. A crazed gunman atop the clock tower began opening fire on folks down below...killing about a dozen folks and injuring many more during this 90 minute spree. This film is the second I have seen about it...and it's very different from "The Deadly Tower", a made for TV movie from 1975. "Tower" tells the story using voice actors and rotoscoped* animations of the actors. The voice actors read testimony by a variety of survivors who witnessed the incident. There are also a few folks who talk about it without the use of animation as well as some archival footage from the time. And, here's what is really interesting...instead of focusing on the killer as the previous film did, this new film deliberately avoided mentioning him or giving any attention to him personally. This was a wise decision and really showed respect for the man's many victims. Instead, it focused on the folks who risked their lives that day--who ran out to help the victims.

Overall, it was a compelling story told in an unusual manner by Keith Maitland. Well worth seeing...especially since some folks really rose to the occasion that day and proved that within tragedy was some humanity. Just be sure, if you do watch, that you keep some Kleenex handy...just in case.

*Rotoscoping is a simple technique for animation. A scene is filmed live and the drawings are made atop the original pictures. It's been around since at least 1915 when the Fleischer Brothers used it in their animated films.

In 1966 in Austin, Texas, a lone sniper occupied a tower on the University of Texas and began to randomly fire at people. Forty-nine were shot and sixteen killed. The documentary recreates the events of that day, using a combination of news footage and high level animation. It uses the words of the victims to recreate the events of that day. There was one woman in particular who is focused on. She was pregnant and lay on the concrete next to her dead boyfriend. It took a brave woman, risking her life, and a young man and his friend who didn't even know her, to risk their lives, for her to survive. The strength is in the tight storytelling. I was a freshman in college, just like many of the young people who were shot and the student population in general. I remember watching a common TV in the student union. We were totally wrapped up in these events. But I have to admit that until I saw that this video existed, I had forgotten this even took place.

I can't explain why I didn't see this till now, but sweet Jesus this is harrowing and overwhelming and an exceptional testament to a devastating day. The filmmakers transform a day of chaos - multiple perspectives, overlapping descriptions, doubling back to those shot and others moving this way and that - into a work of art that gives voice to the dozens of people who included regular/everyday citizens (a pregnant woman, a boy on a bicycle),authorities, press, and more.

Tower shows what human nature is almost all about in the framing and presentation of an animated film, which brings its own level of truth via certain abductions that a straight documentary can't quite bring (like when the pregnant woman Claire, who is the closest to a person who we come back to the most as an emotionally flashpoint, talks about and then we see being shot by a raygun from outer space, or there's even a mention of a Jefferson Davis statue that is like one of those seemingly small details that makes a great difference). And as basic storytelling it gets the tension ratcheted up all the way" especially because the escalating details of who is going where and why it's so hard to get to this tower to stop these shootings.

I don't know if art can redeem a tragedy so shocking, but what Tower does is take the power away from a nut (sick but still a but) like Charles Whitman and makes those who were on the ground matter. Usually the MSM in this country focuses on the killer(s) when such a thing happens; Keith Maitland's focus is on empathy and what brings out people when put to the test - a lot of the best (taking care of one another),and... Well, panic (ie details like the civilians going into an adjacent building to the tower to try to shoot back, as one woman remarks "lots of testosterone" in the building).

I imagine watching this back to back with another Austin-set rotoscoped multi-character trip, Linklater's Waking Life, would be one of the most jarring (but most artistically satisfying) double features ever. Lastly, kudos to all of the animators, the sound editors (this has a soundscape that is incredible),and Violent Beane's performance as Claire.