With all the inhabitants of the small Arizona desert town of Sangre de Cristo savagely murdered but with one survivor an illegal Mexican immigrant - was he the killer? This intriguing set-up sounds it would have been a classic episode of The X-Files, here explained through a rapid-fire and well-made heady mix of found footage, reportage, news broadcasts and interviews that is artfully constructed and delivers well. As well as the central mystery, big contemporary American issues are crammed in such as profiling, patriotism, racism, the death penalty and the justice system, all of which form part of the background to the story that adds an uneasy depth to the material, and what might be seen as an unsubtle allegory is actually effectively executed overall. Changing genre directions regarding the identity of the killer(s) do not overwhelm the overall feel (is it sci-fi/aliens/virus/zombies/far right extremists/etc.?), and the gradual introduction of disturbing details, conflicting viewpoints, questioning veracity of evidence (including a crucial roll of camera film) and shifting sympathy for the key character make Savageland an engrossing if sombre watch,
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