In 1917, mineworking immigrants in the town of Bisbee, AZ were rounded up, loaded onto train cars, shipped out of town, and told never to return. It’s a story that bares a striking resemblance to the current deportation effort in politics, but the documentary is so absorbed with this singular event that it fails to effectively connect the dots between the abundantly evident parallels of 1917 and 2017.

Bisbee ‘17 attempts to accomplish a couple objectives: illustrate the past and current state of the town of Bisbee, collect modern perceptions of the Bisbee Deportation story from both sides, and reenact the event with local actors and residents. Mismanagement of the narrative and flow of the film, however, muddles these efforts.

It’s a film that tries so hard to me provocative, emotional, and haunting, but it all comes off as cheesy, and often annoying. Like the movie’s score, which simply loops a basic stomp effect and an incessantly screeching violin over the entire length of the feature.

What’s most unfortunate is that there’s certainly a compelling story and message to be communicated here. But the more I watched the documentary, the more I wished that it was, instead, a feature film.

Acting and Casting - 1 | Visual Effects and Editing - 1 | Story and Message - 1 | Entertainment Value - 1 | Music Score and Soundtrack - 0 | Reviewer's Preference - 0 | What does this mean?