ð Share this article The Perfect Neighbor Review: Unpacking a Infamous Incident Through the Lens of a Florida Cop's Body Camera The true crime genre has a new medium, or perhaps even a whole new language and structure: police body cam footage. Faces of victims, observers and possible perpetrators loom up to the cameras, sometimes in the intense brightness of vehicle beams or flashlights as the officers approach, their faces and voices eloquent of wariness or fear or indignation or dubiously feigned naivety. And we often incidentally glimpse the expressions of the law enforcement personnel, one standing by blankly while the other asks the questions with what sometimes seems like remarkable hesitation â though perhaps this is because they are aware they are being recorded. An Emerging Pattern in Documentary Filmmaking We have previously seen the streaming service real-life crime film The Gabby Petito Case, about the killing of an Instagram influencer by her partner, whose main point of interest was body cam footage and in which, as in this film, the police seemed surprisingly lenient with the suspect. There is also Bill Morrisonâs Oscar-nominated short Incident, composed entirely of officer footage. Now comes a new film by Geeta Gandbhir about the grim case of a Florida mother in Ocala, Florida, a woman of colour whose children allegedly harassed and antagonized her neighbor, Susan Lorincz. In 2023, after an escalating series of neighborhood conflicts in which the authorities were summoned multiple times, Lorincz shot Owens dead through her locked door, when the victim went to Lorinczâs house to confront her about hurling items at her children. The Police Inquiry and Legal Context The arresting officers found proof that the suspect had done online research into the state's self-defense statutes, which allow residents and others to shoot if there is a reasonable belief of threat. The documentary constructs its narrative with the body cam footage captured during the repeated police visits to the location before the killing, and then at the disturbing and disordered incident site itself â introduced by emergency call recordings of Lorincz contacting authorities in a melodramatically shaky voice. There is also police cell footage of the individual which has a chilly, queasy fascination. Depiction of the Suspect The documentary does not really suggest anything too complex about Lorincz, or any mitigating factors. She is clearly unstable, although the kids are heard calling her âthe Karenâ, an hurtful taunt. The production is presented as an example of how âstand your groundâ laws generate unnecessary and heartbreaking bloodshed. But the fact of gun ownership and the constitutional right (that longstanding U.S. legal right that a late commentator famously claimed made gun deaths a necessary cost) is not much emphasized. Police Interrogation and Firearm Norms It is possible to watch the officer questioning segments here and feel astonished at how minimal concern the officers took in this aspect. When did she buy her gun? Did she receive any instruction on handling it? Was this the first time she discharged the weapon? Where did she store it in the house? Was it just on the couch, loaded and ready? The authorities arenât shown asking any of these surely relevant questions (though they may have done in recordings that were not included). Or is gun ownership so commonplace it would be like asking about kitchen appliances or toasters? Detention and Consequences For what appeared to her neighbors a extended period, the suspect was not even arrested and charged, only held and even offered a hotel stay away from home for the night (another point of comparison, by the way, with the Gabby Petito case). And when she was finally formally arrested in the holding cell, there is an extraordinary sequence in which Lorincz simply refuses to stand, will not extend her arms for the cuffs, not hostilely, but with the courteously pathetic demeanor of someone whose mental health means that she just canât do it. Did the gentle handling up until that point encouraged her to think that this could be effective? Final Outcome and Judgment It didnât; and the panel's decision is revealed in the closing credits. A very sombre portrayal of U.S. justice and consequences.