Hidden within the plethora of movie streaming services are true gems; Streaming Obscura seeks to shine some light on the films you might otherwise miss.



Who really killed President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963? More than likely it was Lee Harvey Oswald. It’s a popular theory to believe Oswald either didn’t act alone, or didn’t do any shooting at all. But in Vincent Bugliosi’s massive, exhaustive book Reclaiming History, Bugliosi pretty much debunks every single possible conspiracy theory, while also piling up tons of evidence that Oswald was the murderer of the president. Bugliosi’s book paints Oswald as a lonely, angry, antisocial loser; suffering from dyslexia as well as delusions of grandeur, Oswald abused his wife and went through life thinking he was destined for greatness.

So perhaps we as a society need conspiracy theories to make us feel like life isn’t so random and fragile. It’s strangely more “comforting” to believe that a shadowy conspiracy made up of powerful men could kill the president, rather than believe some slow-witted nutcase could just easily poke a gun out of a window and change history.

However, from a purely entertaining standpoint, conspiracy theories are sexier. Directed by Neil Burger (who directed the recent film adaptation of Divergent), 2002’s Interview with the Assassin posits that Oswald wasn’t the man who killed Kennedy. Instead, an ex-Marine named Walter Ohlinger pulled the trigger that day in Dallas.

Filmed as a psuedo-documentary/mockumentary, the film follows a cameraman and wannabe filmmaker named Ron (Dylan Haggerty). The beginning of the film shows that despite his aspirations, Ron isn’t really much of a filmmaker. He’s really just a cameraman, and he fools around with his camera, filming his wife and daughter, with no real skill or artistic merit.

Ron is soon contacted by his mysterious neighbor, the aforementioned Ohlinger (Raymond J. Barry). Ohlinger tells Ron he is dying of cancer, and before he dies, he wants Ron to document his confession: that he was the man who shot JFK.

Understandably skeptical, Ron asks for proof, and soon the two are off on a road-trip of sorts to get to the bottom of things. There’s a darkly humorous scene where Ron and Ohlinger go to Dealey Plaza, and some tourists ask Ohlinger to take their picture in front of the spot Kennedy was killed—completely unaware that the man taking their picture might be the killer. Ron reaches out to people from Ohlinger’s life to get to the truth; Ohlinger’s ex-wife says that Ohlinger is a nut and is not to be trusted, but an old Marine buddy of Ohlinger is nervous about this whole thing; he seems to know more than he’s letting on.

Ron goes deeper and deeper into the mystery, and soon strange things start happening. The two men appear to be followed by government agents, and a scientific test done on a shell casing Ohlinger has points to it actually being used in the murder of Kennedy. The film draws to a disturbing conclusion, which leads to an even more chilling ending that leaves you guessing.

Interview with the Assassin gets a lot out of it’s simple premise, and it lives and dies on the shoulders of Raymond J. Barry’s performance. Barry is completely convincing in the film, never feeling like he’s acting; completely embodying the character. He has a disturbing leer and a dry way of delivering his lines that make him equally creepy and endearing. He’s perfectly cold blooded, and doesn’t really seem to have any sort of political agenda at all. When Ron asks Barry’s character how he felt about Kennedy, he confesses he really didn’t have any opinion at all. He didn’t kill Kennedy for any real reason, other than money. Dylan Haggerty, as Ron, is mostly behind the camera for the whole film, but he too is entirely believable in his performance, bringing a befuddled every-man quality to his character.

The movie was made for $750,000 dollars, and it has a low budget feel to it that furthers the authenticity of the whole thing. This is “found footage” done so well that if we didn’t know for a fact these people were actors, we might start to believe this is a real documentary. It’s a film where a little bit goes a long way.

You can stream Interview with the Assassin on Netflix here.

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