Films created partly or wholly out of pre-recorded footage now form a category of documentary that is particularly well stacked. Images from the past yield new meaning when placed in a different context. That is evident in Sandhya Suri’s Around India with a Movie Camera, which relooks at archival films made during British rule over India, and Sara Dosa’s Fire of Love, about a French scientist couple’s videos about volcanoes.
In Geeta Gandbhir’s The Perfect Neighbor, the raw material is bodycam footage recorded by police officers in the course of their duties. Gandbhir’s documentary, which is out on Netflix, is a powerful and harrowing chronicle of the challenges to coexistence in present-day America.
The Perfect Neighbor was premiered in January at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won Gandbhir the top award for direction. The documentary comprises footage that was filmed by police officers in Florida’s Marion Country between 2022 and 2024.
The officers record their responses to a slew of complaints made by an elderly white woman about her black neighbour’s children. Susan Lorincz objects to the children playing in the area in front of her house, which she claims belongs to her. The neighbour, Ajike Owens, points out that the space belongs to the community, rather than to Lorincz. Matters reach a head, exposing the ugliness behind what appears to be a commonplace disagreement.
Cameras strapped to bodies or placed on the dashboards of cars are meant to bolster investigations as well as protect cops from accusations that they have violated human rights. The recording equipment provides a one-way perspective of perpetrators, suspects and victims of crimes. The visuals pick up the things people say on camera, which complicates the situation.
Gandbhir and editor Viridiana Lieberman have skillfully constructed The Perfect Neighbour to mimic as well as subvert non-fiction shows based on bodycam footage. Such shows portray police work as entertainment. They are exploitative and voyeuristic, while also presuming the guilt of those who have been caught in dramatic conditions.
There is suspense over how Susan’s neighbours will react to her latest complaint, a Rashomon-like ambiguity over who is right and wrong. The bodycam initially simply watches, seemingly neutral, before emerging as an unseen witness to divisions in American society and the police’s response to crime.
The film could have taken a more conventional form – for instance, a reconstruction of events that included interviews with the concerned persons, the police and experts. Instead, Gandbhir takes an approach that perfectly suits her quest to reveal truths that are lurking in plain sight.
By peering more closely than usual at bodycam footage, Gandbhir finds a tragedy that could have been avoided, if only somebody had watched and listened more carefully.
You’ve read Scroll.
Now help sustain it
Scroll is funded by readers, not corporate owners. If you believe our work matters, support our newsroom. Become a member today!
We’re not driven by clicks or corporate interests – just honest, independent reporting. Keep us going. Support Scroll today!