TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL 2015 // A FILM REVIEW OF "TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RIFLE"
The 2015 Tribeca Film Festival, presented by AT&T, runs April 15th-26th and features hundreds of features, documentaries, short films, and special events all throughout downtown New York City. The ArtsWire Weekly's three featured reviewers Mateo, Derek, & Chrisena are hitting the festival and bringing the reviews right to you! What you should see and what you should skip...
There was an American novel published in 1911 called TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RIFLE about a man's African safari where he brought down elephants and rhinos with the use of his new invention, a rifle that shot bolts of electricity. Fast forward sixty years and a nonfictional version of this weapon was invented by a man named Jack Cover. Two decades later, entrepreneurial brothers Tom and Rick Smith bought the rights from Cover and created TASER, a company named by the acronym of the original book title and devoted to producing this non-lethal weapon.
Well, it was supposed to be non-lethal. Or at least that's what the brothers said, and that's how they've marketed the sale of about a million TASERs to different law enforcement agencies around the world. But as more TASERs get into police hands, use and abuse are on the rise, as is the number of reported TASER-related deaths.
What is made clear in Tom Swift is that the TASER brothers are resistant to admit any fault in their product. Though outside (and quite possibly even internal) medical and scientific research has shown this intense boost of electricity from one of these weapons can increase metabolic acidosis to fatal levels and can play wonky games with the heart's rhythm, amongst some other negative effects, TASER International continues to manufacture these weapons, train agencies to use them, and shirk the responsibility or even possibility of the relation between TASERs and now over 600 deaths.
In this film, director Nick Berardini brings to light this fatal situation, calling for more research, full disclosure of solid statistics (which are admittedly difficult to come by), and training that better prepares the handlers for use and makes them aware of the dangers of this lethal weapon.
VERDICT: SEE IT
DIRECTED BY Nick Berardini CINEMATOGRAPHERS Brock Williams, Nate Trusedell
Playing as part of The 2015 Tribeca International Film Festival. For tickets & schedules: http://www.tribecafilm.com
W. DEREK JORDEN is an actor currently living and working in New York City. He and his wife live on a Spaceship on the top of a building, which makes for some interesting dinner parties.