Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This documentary uses 911 calls, interviews with family members and police, and security camera footage to reconstruct the events leading up the tragic car accident which killed eight people in two cars including Diane, the driver. As the story unfolds, we realize that this story is less about a mystery and more about the power of denial. Diane's husband and sister insist that while she drank "sometimes," she "would never do that when she had to drive." We learn that yes, she smoked pot from time to time, "when the laundry was folded and put away and the kids were asleep, never when she was with the kids....it was mainly to get her a good night's sleep..." Before the accident, Diane is seen on a convenience store security camera wandering around before returning to her car packed with children- was she trying to buy medication for a migraine? We'll never know. What we do know is that the blood tests taken on her after the accident reveal elevated alcohol and marijuana levels. Diane's relatives don't believe the report- must be some mistake. So they demand a retest, which reveals the same thing. They still don't believe it- "what are we supposed to do now?" They meet with an expert on the subject- "could the tests be flawed, could it be the result of a stroke from an abscessed tooth?" No. "Should we dig up her body and have her tested again?" By the end of the documentary, we realize that Diane's family will simply not be convinced that Diane was in any way responsible for the accident, which occurred after Diane drove her minivan 1.7 miles at 70 MPH in the wrong direction, in the fast lane, in almost straight line, before colliding with another car (and killing everyone in that other car.) We realize that if Diane had left a notarized suicide note, a videotaped confession, and 80 empty bottle of whiskey had been discovered scattered around the back seat, her family would probably feel exactly the same way. I'm not condemning the family- they didn't kill anyone. They didn't force Diane to drink or smoke pot before climbing into a minivan filled with kids. But I wonder how much of this sad denial existed before the accident, and if a little more clarity and acceptance might have been more useful to Diane than "oh well, she only drinks and smokes pot on rare occasions." I wonder if this almost pathological refusal to accept the truth is a thin mask for the guilt felt by Diane's family- no, We could not have done Anything, because Nothing Was Wrong. I'm reminded of people who will not accept that a family member has committed a horrible crime despite the evidence, or the family of a murder victim who are convinced that the guy in custody MUST be guilty, because it's not possible to live without some level of closure. Diane needed help but didn't get it. Diane's family needs help too- and I'm not sure this documentary will give them any comfort, because they don't seem to really want it. Great documentary, but it's not a mystery.