The transparent crime – Netflix documentary “The Perfect Neighbor” shows the path to a murder

The elderly white woman calls herself the "perfect neighbor," which ironically reflects the title of the documentary, because the residents of her street in Ocala, Marion County, actually perceived her as the exact opposite. Susan Louise Lorincz, then 58, disrupted the social harmony of the neighborhood she had moved to a few years earlier with constant complaints about children making noise, playing, and allegedly threatening her and her property on her property. Lorincz was more like the perfect nuisance.

Then she became the next-door killer, shooting her neighbor through the closed front door of her apartment on June 2, 2023, after she had vigorously demanded entry because of another argument. Ajike "AJ" Shantrell Owens, 35, a Black mother of four, died that same evening in the hospital where she had been taken. Lorincz assured officers that she had feared for her life.

Emmy Award-winner Geeta Gandbhir's film documents this escalation – from a police visit in February 2022 to the murder. The interrogations are included, and the closing credits reveal the essence of the trial.

For this, Gandbhir received the Best Director Award in the documentary category at this year's Sundance Film Festival, and Netflix immediately secured the rights to this highly unusual film, which has now become a hit with audiences and critics. Almost all of the footage in "The Perfect Neighbor" comes from police officers' body cameras, as well as from cameras at Lorincz's house and footage from the interrogation room.

Only images from protests, Owens's funeral, and the courtroom are of a different origin. It's a zero-distance documentary without commentary. The only subjective aspect is the editing of the footage, which comes from various body cameras and thus from different perspectives, thus creating the effect of a film drama whose scenes are filmed by different cameras.

The fact that Gandbhir's sister-in-law knew the victim remains strangely unmentioned in the film, although according to the director this made the job "deeply personal".

One can hear and see the local children playing on the street and next to Lorincz's house. The property doesn't even belong to their property; the owner has given the children permission to enter the lawn, they say. And nothing about the noise or the behavior of the players is inappropriate. The predominantly (but not exclusively) white officers repeatedly urge everyone involved to be careful and considerate, repeatedly expressing understanding for both sides.

The film is thrilling, has something eerie about it, precisely because you know exactly what's going to happen from the first minute, and what's happening is something final. And because the film also shows the simmering racism in America. Lorincz, who is confronted during interrogation with having used the "N" word, initially denies it, then admits it might have happened.

After all, she grew up with this word being used to describe unpleasant people. Regardless of skin color?

She writes down only a banal sentence when her interrogators give her the opportunity to write an apology to Owens' family. Ultimately, the sheriff orders her arrest. The camera at the house proves that Owens was unarmed, that his life was not in danger. And according to the second-by-second recordings, only two minutes had passed between Lorincz's first and second phone calls, the 911 call.

Lorincz knew a police patrol was on the way. And her computer contained evidence that she had read up on Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law. It essentially answers the question: When can I get away with killing someone?

Florida was the first state to pass such a law in 2005. In February 2012, the law came under nationwide criticism when 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, a high school student in Florida, was shot and killed by a security guard on his way home. He was brought to trial only after protests and acquitted by a jury.

These self-defense laws are now part of the legislation in more than 30 US states, but they vary from state to state. In many states, this waiver of any obligation to retreat applies only to one's own property or at work. In Florida, however, "Stand Your Ground" is possible anywhere. In some states, a detailed justification must be provided as to why the force used in self-defense was considered proportionate.

Opponents call them "shoot first, think later" laws. The "white shooter - black victim" scenario is four times more common. In the case of Susan Lorincz, "Stand Your Ground" didn't work; she was sentenced to 25 years in prison in August 2024. Because everything, even the intent to murder, was digitally documented.

And so “The Perfect Neighbor” is also a film that shows the state of the surveillance society.

“The Perfect Neighbor,” documentary, 93 minutes, directed by Geeta Gandbhir (streamable on Netflix)