Movie Review: A Gray State

A Gray State *** ½ / *****

Directed by: Erik Nelson.

 

I have never been much into conspiracy theories, which is perhaps why I had not heard of David Crowley, or the movie he was going to make – Gray State – which documented a time in the not too distant future when the government was going to crack down on its citizens, and kill or enslave them. Crowley became a big hit in the Libertarian and conspiracy theory circles – he supported Ron Paul for President, and was a fan of Alex Jones. A veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, Crowley may have been affected by PTSD or some other mental disorder because of his time on the battlefield – its impossible to say really – but we do know that when he was Stop-Lossed (the military term for when they refuse to let you leave the military, even after your time is supposed to be up – he started to grow more paranoid and distrustful of the government. When he finally did get out, he embraced conspiracy theories, and set about making a trailer for his purposed movie. The plan was to film the trailer, get funded on Kickstarter in order to be able to write the movie (which he did) and then go to Hollywood, script in hand, to get $30 million to make his would be masterpiece. He got a hell of a lot closer than most would have to making that happen.

 

That all came to an end in January 2015 when Crowley, his wife Komel and their daughter Rainya were found shot to death in their homes. After a year of investigating, the police closed the case – determining that David killed his family, then too his own life. Others in the conspiracy theory world are still not convinced – seeing yet another government conspiracy.

 

A Gray State, a documentary by Erik Nelson, examines the life of David Crowley, and his work, and ultimately his death. After he gives a few minutes, early in the documentary, to a few of the voices who are convinced this is all a government ruse, he examines Crowley life in the military, his work in trying to get his movie off the ground, and finally his unravelling mental state in the months leading up to his death. Those conspiracy theorists at the beginning of the movie probably won’t like the rest of it – it comes together as one sad, tragic portrait of a man who eventually will kill his daughter, wife and then himself. As someone says to Nelson late in the film “You’re not missing anything but the why – and you’ll never get that”. And he’s right.

 

Nelson’s documentary really does give a fascinating portrait of Nelson, who even as he became more and more convinced of various conspiracy theories, remaining outwardly nice and charming. There were warning signs early in his relationship with Komel sure – like the fact that David refused to discuss having more kids, despite how young they both were – but that didn’t mean much. To those who saw them, they seemed like a perfect young couple, very much in love and happy. She supported the family, as he followed his dream of making his movie.

 

And then things just started to go wrong, and no one quite knows why. Friends and family agree that they first noticed something at Rainya’s birthday party in August when the couple would barely acknowledge each other. Komel became increasingly isolated from friends, families and co-workers – who either couldn’t talk to her at all, or else felt like something in her changed. All we really have from this period is David’s bizarre journal, and some videos, where it becomes clear that something strange is happening with both David and Komel – neither of whom seem in their right mind.

 

What happened on Christmas – which is when David killed his family – will never be known. What flipped that final switch that made him go off the way he did is something that can never be known. This documentary makes the compelling case however that it was no conspiracy – just the sad case of someone who goes off the deep end. One could argue that Nelson could have explored Crowley’s beliefs – and circle of influences more deeply (it is a very white group of people and there are some racist undertones that go unstated), and he certainly should have found a different way to end the movie (the final moments, about Crowley’s dog are bizarre) – but overall, A Gray State is a fascinating and sad portrait for our fake news obsessed times.