Power is a concept that
is crucial to understanding the way the world works but is often ignored in
smaller concentrations. We love to hear stories about underdogs taking on multinational
corporations with legal departments and millions of dollars at their disposal
to throw at our heroes, but power is often overlooked in the context of city
councils, city planners and zoning laws. And Marv Heemayer of Granby, Colorado
was convinced these powers were coming for him.
Marv was a highly skilled welder who owned a muffler shop
in Granby with plans to expand into the properties near him. After purchasing a
small lot adjacent to the one he already owned, Marv found himself in a legal
battle with the city, who required him to make significant changes to the
property in order to use it which Marv was unable to make. The docudrama format
intends to shift our sympathies from Marv, to the city he would destroy as the
situation unfolds. We hear Marv’s recordings he made before his infamous
actions, where he rambles about his God ordained quest to do this.
His tapes serve both to paint Marv as clearly losing his
mind, but they also are carefully curated to show Marv’s intense tunnel vision.
He truly believes that he was called to do this, and that he had no other
option. He talks about how long he has planned this, and how at every step he
felt encouraged by God to keep going. Destroying his enemies became a righteous
quest for redemption. He felt that the established families in the town had
built a suit of armor around themselves with sewage codes, and city council
ruling, and that he was justified to do the same for himself.
Although you can’t help but feel bad for Marv. He was a
tortured soul, one who’s friend said “spent too much time alone.” His paranoia
consumes him to such a degree that his only way he could see out and justify it
was to take a bulldozer downtown and destroy everything he could.
Perhaps the greatest part of the film was the archival
footage taken that day of Marv in his bulldozer. Watching Marv’s creation
rolling right through buildings, over cars like they were made of tin foil, and
surviving everything SWAT and police were throwing at it was a sight to behold.
The film emphasized at length how skilled of a craftsman Marv was, and his
masterpiece is something to behold. Stream it from Netflix for that footage
alone, but watch it for an emotional journey as well.
-Patrick Bernas