Movie Review: Blue Caprice

Blue Caprice attempts to fill in the background story behind the Beltway Sniper Attacks of 2002.  The action moves at a lazy and vague pace, and the story that comes to light is one of an adult man, John Muhammed, who brings a Carribean boy, Lee Malvo, to the USA and then guilts him into doing his dirty work.  The thematic substance of this dirty work remains a bit unclear, though.  Mohammed, played by Isaiah Washington, comes across as a bitter and resentful man, disappointed with the life that the Fates have handed him.  But he doesn't emit the psycho-killer insanity one might expect from the man behind what was described nationally as "serial killings." At the same time, Mohammed never really expresses a clear motive for his rage.  Rather, it appears that this is a just man worn down by his ex-wife and some bad breaks that just doesn't care anymore.  It's the victim at the end of his rope, but rather than a spontaneous, go-postal, snap-freak-out, he gloomily makes a subordinate soldier out of a teenage boy and treks across the country shooting random people - almost as if he has nothing better to do. 

     Is this what happened in real life with these two? If so, then the teenager, Malvo, comes across looking like a victim of a sort of informal, human trafficking of the mercenary (not sexual) kind, and Mohammed appears close to the every-man if you just add a bit more depression, darkness, and resentment.   In short, the movie refuses to fill in the gaps in our collective knowledge of the trial. 

     The actual story of the Beltway snipers never quite clarified itself.  Some court testimonies that Malvo gave over the years have spoken of a manipulative father-figure who abused Malvo.   But much remains vague about the actual story, and the film mirrors this vagueness.  The result is, well, something that people might find too boring to watch. 

     However, I still recommend checking this movie out on Netflix.  It shows the human background of two people who were touted as serial killers but are not portrayed here as serial killers.  And, after watching this movie, one might actually be inclined to examine their ownethics in regards to violence and murder.  These men seem too ordinary for comfort's sake, and even if it is largely fiction, it's worth watching simply for the mental exercise involved in internally re-framing a national news story. 
-CLINT SABOM

Directed By: Alexandre Moors
Starring: Isaiah Washington, Tequan Richmond, Joey Lauren Adams, Tim Blake Nelson
Story By: Alexandre Moors
Release Date: September 13, 2013
Production: SimonSays Entertainment