‘KIDS OF SANTA FE’ A MOVING TRIBUTE
The first half of “The Kids of Santa Fe: The Largest Unknown Mass Shooting,” Charlie Minn’s documentary about the attack at Santa Fe High School on May 18, 2018 that killed 10 and wounded 13, is heartbreaking. Students recount in meticulous detail where they were and what they were doing when their lives were violently turned upside down.
The second half is moving, as it honors those who didn’t make it. But it’s also maddening, as Minn raises questions about how law enforcement response and school district bureaucracy made a tragic situation worse. There are no answers — even bad, empty ones — as no one in authority would talk to the filmmaker, according to a title card at the end of the film. So, “The Kids of Santa Fe” is something of a bifurcated experience, satisfying as a salute to those killed and their grieving families and less so as an investigation into issues raised around why, for example, the shooter (who’s never named) apparently was consistently allowed to come to school wearing a trench coat (even though it was against the dress code), making it easier for him to conceal his weaponry. Or why, with the exception of school resource officer John Barnes, who was seriously wounded and nearly died, police didn’t move in right away, as the film claims.
The documentary also raises issues about why the Santa Fe shooting received far less national media attention, hence the movie’s subtitle, than the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., that took place three months prior. The general consensus seems to be that attitudes toward guns in Southeast Texas are different from South Florida, so the Santa Fe mass shooting didn’t birth a political movement, such as March for Our
Lives. Also, Santa Fe students and their families kept more to themselves, sidestepping the media glare. Exploring more of these differences could make for a fascinating documentary on its own. (Minn has made a documentary about the Florida shooting, “Parkland: Inside Building 12,” as well as the 2019 El Paso shooting, “915: Hunting Hispanics”).
But what stands out in “The Kids of Santa Fe” is the bravery and ingenuity of the kids and teachers themselves, such as Christopher Stone, who gave his life blocking the door so the killer couldn’t get into the room where he and others were barricaded. If moviegoers remember their names — Christian Riley Garcia, Sabika Sheikh, Angelique Ramirez, Shana Fisher, Kimberly Jessica Vaughan, Aaron Kyle McLeod, Jared Black, Cynthia Tisdale, Ann Perkins and Stone — then Minn has done his job.