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Men Adventures in the Screen Trade, William Goldman’s account of his career as a Hollywood screenwriter, Goldman recalls hearing the true story of a fireman who returned to save a child he heard crying as he exited a burning building, fleeing with the baby when everything began to fall apart. He was, Goldman says, an invincible legend of real heroes and someone, of course, told him he should make a movie about it. The problem, says Goldman, is that what this man did is, ironically, what a movie hero is expected to do before the opening credits roll.
The same principle is true for a small window. A legitimate, dramatic and tragic event that gives life to the people involved is needlessly crushed by the medium’s demands. This is the main problem with second-hand crime novels like Worst Neighbor Ever. The four US additions to the series tell four stories about ordinary people who were lucky enough to find themselves living with … well, the information is in the title. And, in a country with dubious views on gun control, it often ended in tragedy.
The first episode follows the story of Shawna and David Scott who have been abused for years by Frances Zaayer, a woman their family first knew when they were young, who later moved in with Shawna as an adult after a divorce. When her behavior became unreasonable to every houseguest (wanting Shawna to be clean too early, yelling at the Scotts’ beloved granddaughter, proudly showing them videos of her participating in anti-Islam protests, etc.), they asked her to leave. Frances bought the house across the street and a massive campaign to harass the couple began. Despite taking Shawna to court on trumped-up charges of assault and the police being there whenever she called them – almost every day – Frances made sure that the Scotts would not be punished for the crimes that (one might say) she thought they had done to her because David worked at the local prison. Eventually, he arrived at the house with a gun, shot Shawna in the face and killed Davide. We hear a 911 call from a neighbor – “It’s this crazy woman they’ve been fighting for years.” Frances was sentenced to 35 years for murder, second degree assault and endangerment and is due to be released in 2038.
A similar story is told in the third episode, and this time drug addiction plays a major role in the killer’s actions. Jamal Thomas was sneaking into the neighborhood of Miles and Melina Armstead when they moved in. Five months after their windows were smashed by another threat from Thomas, the Armsteads moved. Miles was gardening in preparation for putting the house on the market when Thomas shot him.
Another story concerns the explosion that Mark Leonard and his friend Monserrate Shirley (three others were also found guilty of) intentionally caused to collect insurance money on the property, which ended up killing neighbors Shirley Dion and Jennifer Longworth. And one looks at the woman who mutilated and disposed of the body of a man named Charles Wilding (who died of natural causes) to commit a massive fraud.
All of this is bad news, some about unspeakable sadness. A line from the letter that Miles’ beautiful and dignified mother still writes to him every Tuesday – “My son, one and only … I long for you and always will” will stop anyone who sees it. But if nothing else — other than the suggestion in the Armsteads’ episode that the police should have done more to protect the family and that the race may have played a role in their lack of interest in the case — it seems like an insult. This is good enough television, it does nothing more than remind us that there are bad people and that they can cross our path at any time. It doesn’t look for jobs that can be taken by external things, it just asks us to look and point and whisper “there but the grace of God…” A very good case in point Documentary explores weaknesses in institutions and systems, asks questions about the motivations and trauma of childhood, and asks what we can do to protect victims and prevent perpetrators from committing crimes. At his best, he explores whether anyone is born evil or whether we are all capable of being evil. The Worst Neighbor is far from the best.
