TED K: A War Brewing Inside a Man

There are plenty of arguments about what Ted Kaczynski’s philosophy, put forth through a manifesto forcibly published in The Washington Post, is really saying. It’s been in vogue to reconsider some of his points as reasonable and in common with the disillusioned younger generations of America. Tony Stone’s movie Ted K doesn’t really dig into the ideas within Kaczynski’s manifesto as talking points but rather, simply recapitulates them out as voiceovers juxtaposed with various imagery that may or may not have tangentially influenced them.

In a sense, Ted K is a procedural film about a terrorist, meticulously going through step by step the ways in which he built up to his most nationally recognized crime – the mailing of bombs to various powerful figures. In its procedure, however, the movie doesn’t dive below its surface and leaves most of the conjecture as open as it ever was.

Feeling Small

The film opens with blaring drones and heavy use of dissolves. Both of these elements remain through the rest of the movie offering it an intense dream-like psychosis. Though I will say that it also lends itself to becoming monotonous over time. The imagery of the film is more bolstered by its woodland mountainous setting than it is by any majorly interesting camerawork. What director Tony Stone does offer is the conscious placing of Kaczynski (Sharlto Copley) within environments that lead to his smallness. His inability to create any sort of human connection and his deep respect for the solitude that nature provides him are elicited through framing him as distanced in public and solitary in the woods.

A Magnetic Performance by Sharlto Copley

Copley delivers a fairly realistic performance. The quivering mousy voice and irascible tone of Kaczynski create a startling dichotomy. So does his lumbering, awkward walk that belies an ability to do great damage – when he is seen tearing down an electric post and scruffing away, it comes across a bit amusing to see someone rather meek have the gall to inflict that kind of disruption. That is also the core of Kaczynski – someone who felt small in the face of something he wanted to destroy. His voiceovers in the movie are not delivered with confidence. Copley aptly recites them with hesitancy but enough of a sharp edge that it accurately portrays a person who is tipping on the edge but not sure he can pull off his own ambitions.

In the same way, the movie employs a level of hesitancy in discussing the philosophies of Kaczynski, perhaps with aim of not validating them, but it also stops the film from having a depth that I think its surreal approach – replete with dream sequences and psychological framing – would benefit from. Instead, Tony Stone plays it safe. It is his first narrative feature after all, after three documentaries, one of which, is the charming environmental documentary Peter and the Farm (2017), which circles around similar naturalist themes like solitude and detestation for modern life that its central character shares, though in a much more sentimental and pacifist ways.

Conclusion:

Ted K remains interesting because of Copley’s performance and the fact that Kaczynski is a fascinating persona in and of himself. While the movie doesn’t take any leaps to build or excavate its central character, it does offer a procedural look at the gradual ascension of a domestic terrorist. It sees the relationship between man and nature and suggests that for some, like Ted Kaczynski, it’s a war and there’s only one way out of it.

Ted K is currently streaming on Tubi and Hulu for U.S. audiences. 

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