A split-second decision can change the trajectory of your life forever. Sometimes they can even mean the difference between life and death. The haunting “One Killer Punch” tells three such stories that end in confusion, loss and overwhelming sadness. In these real-world scenarios, fate is decided with a single blow.
A group of college students go to a party and get into an argument. A punch is delivered, and the victim loses consciousness. He died in hospital later that morning, and his attacker was arrested on manslaughter charges.
In the parking lot of a department store, two elderly people are arguing over the use of disabled parking spaces. A few minutes later, one of them was taken away by ambulance while the other fled the scene.
A young man who has been bullied for most of his life has drawn the ire of Iraq war veterans for his unsavory hairstyle. A punch to the jaw would have left the veteran paralyzed. As his brain continued to bleed and swell inside his skull, his loved ones made the painful decision to remove him from life support.
Each of these cases involved superficial misunderstandings, damaged egos, and irrational outbursts of misplaced machismo. They all ended in death. Several participants provided conflicting accounts of the same incident, creating challenges for law enforcement officials to hold perpetrators accountable. We saw closed-circuit camera footage capturing every incident or its immediate aftermath. A determination of guilt or innocence is often equivalent to a series of still images.
Regardless, the aggressors were frustrated and sorry that a strike would cause so much damage. The film offers more than a portrait of the maker and receiver of every punch. We also meet family members on both sides of these tragedies—those who taught their children at an early age to protect themselves through physical aggression, those who are grieving, and others who are struggling to find forgiveness.
Beautifully shot and unabashedly emotional, One Killer Punch is a harrowing revelation of the futility of violence.
Directed by: Tim Wardle
