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Canada · 2017
1h 15m
Director Jamie Kastner
Starring
Genre Documentary
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The Skyjacker's Tale tells the story of the Fountain Valley massacre and its dramatic aftermath. In 1972, a group of five Virgin Islanders, led by Ishmael LaBeet, were convicted for shooting and killing eight people in a nightclub. The film focuses on Labeet, the titular skyjacker, who escaped to Cuba a decade later by hijacking a plane while being transferred to another prison.
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by
Even as he cuts confusingly between talking heads and time periods, Kastner elides key details that might have given viewers a more complex portrait of both the setting and his anti-hero’s role in the drama.
The New York Times by Ben Kenigsberg
The Skyjacker’s Tale could stand to lose its gimmicky re-enactments. Why supplement a story this crazy?
Village Voice by Craig D. Lindsey
Canadian documentarian Jamie Kastner (The Secret Disco Revolution) has crafted an entertainingly kitschy version of an Errol Morris film.
Paste Magazine by Daniel Schindel
Despite the intriguing subject matter, this documentary can’t stay in the air.
The Hollywood Reporter by John DeFore
The question of decades-old torture is an important one, of course, but hardly makes this a must-see doc when there are so many present-tense stories of police misconduct to investigate.
Los Angeles Times by Katie Walsh
Stylistic choices could have undermined the film, but the story and revelations are so shocking and powerfully absorbing that The Skyjacker’s Tale rises above.
RogerEbert.com by Matt Fagerholm
What resonates most potently are the scenes of the 1972 trial.
The movie creates a lovely arc for how we think of Ali, from monster to, “Well, maybe not.” But you’re allowed to think the filmmaker is naive, tilting his story toward those on Ali’s side, buttressing a case for his humanity and justifiable skyjacking.
A Skyjacker’s Tale is all in the telling, and Jamie Kastner’s haphazard documentary misses the opportunity to get it right, despite having access to Ali and an impressive assembly of major players from his past.
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