The Rifleman
2020 · 19m · USA
Directed by Sierra Pettengill
Genres: biography, documentary, historical
Tones: contemplative, dark, provocative
Archival portrait of Harlon Carter — teenage murderer turned Border Patrol chief and NRA leader — tracing how the NRA became a radical-right political bloc and gun ownership's role in enforcing a white-nationalist vision of America.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Pettengill could've swung for pure provocation here—the setup's loaded—but instead she's made something almost *respectable*, which is exactly what makes it sting; the restraint is the subversion, and I hate that I respect it.
A formally controlled archival essay that situates itself deliberately within the tradition of political documentary portraiture, using montage and voice to construct genealogy rather than polemic—the kind of rigorous structural thinking that elevates argument into form.
The decision to let archival footage breathe without manipulation, to trust the juxtaposition itself to carry the ideology, is what separates this from standard issue political doc; it's a choice that asks the viewer to see rather than be told.
Reviews
In making The Rifleman, I was interested in using Carter's life to tell the story of the NRA beyond the limited context of the current debate over gun control, and instead place it in the broader context of how gun ownership has, since early in the nation's founding, been central to enforcing a white nationalist vision of the United States.