February 2nd, 2013 - a local news station from Fresno, California interviews a young man who refers to himself as Kai. He claims he was picked up by a heavyset man who claimed to be Jesus Christ and, later, crashed into a pedestrian - pinning them against the rear of a parked truck. Kai promptly pulled a hatchet out of his backpack and whacked the driver across the head with it several times. In Kai's words, he went "Smash, smash, Suh-MASH" on the driver's head. Before recounting this story, Kai addressed the camera directly telling whoever's watching that they "deserve respect" and are "worthwhile, nobody can ever take that away from you." This interview went viral and made Kai an internet celebrity. He even managed to become a guest on the Jimmy Kimmel show, a little over a week after the video went viral. Kai's interview with the local Fresno reporter was watched by millions, who saw him as a lovable, free-wheeling, kind, carefree surfer/skater, who's completely unfiltered but contains a heart of gold. Hollywood caught wind of this man and immediately wanted to make him famous. The world was Kai's oyster. Three months later, Kai becomes the primary suspect of a murder and gets sentenced to jail. What the hell happened?
That's what the Netflix documentary "The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker" attempts to unpack. Interviewing the reporter from Fresno, a man who works on the Jimmy Kimmel show, a woman who wanted to give Kai his own reality show, Kai's mother, his cousin, and a few other people who knew Kai----the documentary attempts to piece together the type of person Kai was, the events that occurred directly after that interview went viral, what really went down between him and the murdered attorney, and how this all could've happened in the first place.
But while watching this doc, one can't help but wonder about some of the people that were interviewed. This video goes viral and suddenly there's a number of people in the television industry that want to do business with Kai without attempting to do any sort of background check or research on the person. Other than the local reporter who genuinely seemed concerned for Kai's well-being, it was hard to take the people who wanted to make Kai famous seriously.
Let's get something crystal clear - after that video went viral in February 2013, this is what we knew about Kai: he hitchhikes, he doesn't have a home, he likes to skate/surf, and he carries around a hatchet which he used in a very violent, and possibly excessive, way. It's understandable why his interview went viral - it's the same reason why the "Hide yo kids, hide yo wife" guy went viral a few years before that. Off-the-cuff, unfiltered, unpredictable interviews with the local news can often lead to funny soundbites. It's five minutes of entertainment, which ends up becoming a meme and leads to parody videos and re-enactments before everyone gets sick of it and moves on. Did people in Hollywood really think this man was going to become a national celebrity? A reality TV star? Especially without knowing anything about him?
The guy from Jimmy Kimmel tells the story of how Kai pissed on a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and the guy got Kai a room at a fancy Hollywood hotel, a hotel "Marilyn Monroe used to live in", Kai walks in, grabs liquor bottle from a minibar and immediately chugs it. How baffling! How odd! Yes, this person whom you've never met just might have some mental health issues! Think about what this person's life was like before that viral video. Is it possible for a homeless hitchhiker to be mentally stable? Yes, 100%. But there's a reason why people generally don't like to pick-up hitchhikers --- because the opposite can be true. Either way, when you meet a hitchhiker, you can't really be surprised about anything the person ends up doing. If you decide to pick them up, or in this case, invite him onto the Jimmy Kimmel show, you will have to deal with whatever consequences that might arise.
That said, obviously nobody could've predicted that this would be the same man that would end up committing a murder three months later. It's chilling and unsettling, learning about the details of the murder. Yet, all the reality TV show producer can think is "I can't believe I let him spend the night at my house once!"
Is this an effective documentary? If you want to learn about the story behind Kai's interview, his appearance on Kimmel, and the gruesome murder of the New Jersey attorney---you will get that from this movie. But, this movie is called "The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker" and hearing the baffled bemusement of some of these interview subjects will really make you scratch your head... hey guys, what do you expect from a guy who's nickname is "the hatchet wielding hitchhiker"? This is a guy with no home and a history of violent behavior and instead of attempting to find the person help, you throw him back on the streets when he ends up being too unstable to become a star. I'm just saying, if I brought this guy to my home and he exhibited the behavior they were describing, my FIRST reaction would be "This guy needs help." How do none of these people come to that conclusion? Is this me on a high horse? Me saying that? Am I out of line here? I don't know too many people who piss on public property the first chance they get, or chug a bottle of alcohol as soon as they enter a hotel room. This guy clearly had problems and he was chewed up and spit out by the Hollywood machine and committed a murder months later.
It's like the documentary has all this information. It's all there for you to see, but it seems unaware that there's a surface-level story (the story of Kai) and an underlying second story beneath the surface (sketchy Hollywood people trying to take advantage of Kai for personal/financial gain, discover he has mental health problems, and promptly cast him aside). It's just weird. Roger Ebert once said, "It's not what a movie is about, it's how it is about it." I feel like that applies here. Kai's story? The murder? Very interesting and unsettling. For that reason, the documentary is worth a watch. But the way this documentary decides to tell Kai's story? It left a bad taste in my mouth.
Maybe it's not easy to tell a guy like Kai, "Hey you need help". All I'm saying is that, I'm surprised NONE of the Hollywood people interviewed in this movie came to that conclusion. They all just seemed baffled and disgusted by him when it all just seems so obvious. Hope y'all understand where I'm coming from.
And how about that? My first movie review in, like, 6-7 years (letterboxd doesn't count). How'd I do? I know, I know. I'm kinda rusty. I might do more write-ups like this in the near future. We'll see.
