Tower

On August 1, 1966, gunshots rang out on the quiet Texas University campus in Austin. Passersby found themselves under fire from a shooter in the bell tower of the main building. The final death toll was 13, with another 32 wounded. Fifty years after this first-ever school shooting in the United States, victims and witnesses look back on the drama for the first time. The terrifying 90 minutes on campus are reconstructed in minute detail from different perspectives: police officers who rushed to the scene, a pregnant woman, bystanders who became heroes, a radio journalist and a paperboy who just happened to be cycling by. The story is presented in a compelling way using rotoscoping, an animation technique in which live action is drawn over, and it is interspersed with a great deal of media clips and archive footage. The perpetrator’s background – he was a “confused man” – is referred to only in passing, with the emphasis on empathy and the unselfish actions of ordinary citizens, some of whom performed heroic acts. A fascinating report on a senseless tragedy, which unfortunately was not to be the last in American history.