The Plot:
He hadn't planned on running for President. He had just been elected Senator from New York, and was fully supporting the candidacy of then sitting Commander in Chief Lyndon Johnson. But when Eugene McCarthy showed that LBK was weak, and when Johnson finally conceded to give up his possible campaign, Robert Kennedy stepped in. Seen as the people's entrant, representing the disenfranchised and marginalized, he quickly became the foreseen frontrunner. After a decisive victory in California, he spoke with his constituency at Los Angeles' Ambassador Hotel. It was a message of piece, equality, and hope. During a break between engagements, he traveled through the kitchen. There, a hail of gunfire brought him down. Like his brother before, a crazed individual sealed his fate - personally and historically. Now, almost forty years later, first time documentarian Shane O'Sullivan is reopening the case, casting doubt on whether the man accused and convicted of the assassination actually did it, or if he was compelled into action by forces outside his control.

The DVD:
There is something a little off putting about a documentary that spends two hours setting up a possible solution to one of the greatest criminal acts of the 20th century, only to stop and rewrite the facts during the last 15 minutes. That's exactly what happens with Sean O'Sullivan's absorbing, supremely frustrating look at the killing of Bobby Kennedy, RFK Must Die. Like Oliver Stone's JFK before it, our filmmaker wants to open up the discussion on the New York Senator's death, to explore the connections between organized labor (and by direct linkage, the mob), the failed Bay of Pigs invasion (and by correlation, an angry Cuban community), and the reigning powers that be, including the CIA (who didn't like his anti-Vietnam, pro-minority stances), in a possible scheme to destroy this amazing man. In a similar fashion, O'Sullivan offers up historical perspective, social context, the backdoor politics, and the unpopular policies that led to Kennedy's run. He also argues for the long held belief that Sirhan Sirhan, a quiet, diminutive Arab refugee, was himself responsible for the heinous act. But once the talking head portion of the narrative kicks in, RFK goes gonzo and starts debunking. Sometimes, it succeeds. At other instances, it's the cinematic version of grasping at straws.

Where O'Sullivan and his documentary shines is in the forensics pathology portion of the case. The LAPD discovered odd angles of trajectory, possible powder burn marks, additional bullet holes, and several other evidentiary defects that would cause even the most rationally minded CSI soaked individual concern. While not a whitewashing on the scale of The Warren Commission, the investigation into RFK's shooting has an eerie resemblance to the "shut 'em up and stuff them away" reaction to his brother's death in Dallas. One witness discusses how she was intimidated into retracting her testimony, and as if to add fuel to the falsification fire, O'Sullivan plays an audio tape of an agent clearly coaxing the lies as a mean of helping the Kennedy family 'grieve'. It's startling stuff, especially when you consider how thoroughly ravaged any JFK/RFK facts have become over the years. It's frightening that something new could still be discovered, even more so for those who want to see the brothers' deaths as undeniably connected. For this element alone, RFK Must Die deserves attention.

But just when you think the praise is justified, O'Sullivan stumbles...big time. It begins with a discussion of the CIA, and The Manchurian Candidate. Sirhan Sirhan's attorney informs us that he believes his client was brainwashed to kill, programmed to do the bidding of an unseen government cabal, and then cranially reconfigured to forget the whole thing. Specious logic, some incomplete comments from a leading specialist in hypnotism, and a jump into outright conjecture later, and suddenly O'Sullivan and his film don't look that smart. Even worse, an attempt to connect several suspicious CIA operatives, all with links to nasty international espionage, comes up short. Instead of hanging out, trying to make sure their latest patsy takes the rap for murdering a popular late President's similarly beloved brother, these shadowy figures may be nothing more than convention-bound Bulova watch executives. As with any situation where conclusions are drawn without a thorough investigation, RFK Must Die gets derailed. All the goodwill it has built up, especially when discussing how the charismatic candidate died is wasted on incomplete identifications and a sense that someone went off half cocked before getting the straight story. Such a flaw doesn't destroy this otherwise compelling documentary, but it does cast questions over much of what O'Sullivan accomplishes.

The Video:
The 1.78:1 Anamorphic widescreen transfer is quite good. The image is clean and crisp, while some of the newer footage suffers from a foggy, overly soft quality. Oddly enough, the archival material holds up very well, including old television reports on the killing.

The Audio:
There is nothing too impressive about the Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 mix. It captures the talking head quality of the piece quite well, and O'Sullivan does very little to enhance the film's ambience or atmosphere.

The Extras:
We are treated to a series of Kennedy campaign commercials that are a real eye-opener, considering our current tabloid-esque mudslinging style of politics. There is also a 10 minute "interview" with Sirhan, taken from the criminal investigation and psychological material used in the film. Both provide a nice bit of context to the documentary.

Final Thoughts:
Sometimes, ambitions thwart even the most compelling commentary. Shane O'Sullivan deserves a lot of praise for picking apart the RFK assassination, wading into waters that have long remained untroubled and overshadowed by the constantly turbulent tide of his brother's still suspect death. But the last act back-peddling tends to threaten the entire presentation's integrity. What is genuinely engaging slowly starts to slip away. RFK Must Die definitely deserves a Recommended rating. Had our filmmaker stuck to his guns, an even "higher" score was distinctly possible. Unlike Oliver Stone's opus, O'Sullivan is probably not going to spawn a reexamination of Bobby Kennedy's killing. Sirhan Sirhan will more than likely remain in prison for the rest of his life. For the light cast here, RFK Must Die is important. But due to a lack of conviction, it fails to fulfill its potential or promise.

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