Every so often, a documentary comes along that’s also a horror film. Director Rory Kennedy’s Downfall: The Case Against Boeing is one example.
The new film is a harrowing look at the lead-up to and aftermath of two crashes that left 346 people dead. In the crashes, Lion Air Flight 610 on October 29, 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on March 10, 2019, answers as to what happened were initially in short supply as Boeing tried to blame the pilots.
Eventually, at the urging of journalists and the victims’ families, the truth came out: the planes had faulty flight systems. What followed was a historic grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX passenger airliner.
The film looks at these crashes and Boeing’s long presence in Seattle. In talking with workers who made the company what it was, it uncovers the steady erosion of care given to the construction of the planes. It shows how safety and quality dwindled as priorities as the company pursued increased profits. The consequences were deadly.
Originally premiering at Sundance, the documentary is released on Netflix this February. It is the most recent work of Kennedy, the youngest child of the late Robert F. Kennedy and a prolific documentary filmmaker whose previous work includes the 2014 Oscar-nominated film Last Days in Vietnam.
Before the film’s release, Kennedy sat down for a virtual interview about her work on the documentary, its ties to Seattle, and what it shows us about the country’s future.