 The IndiePix Films April 23, 2019 DVD release of the documentary "Target: St. Louis" illustrates the funny because it is true aspect of the joke that the expression "I'm from the government; I'm here to help you is one of the three biggest lies in history. In this case, the deplorable misconduct of the folks literally sworn to act in the best interest of the general public relates to covert testing of aerosol radiation in a predominantly black low-income neighborhood of the titular city in the post-war/Cold War era. Indiepix describes this activity differently; that slant is "environmental racism in the Cold War Jim Crow era." The following clip of a "Target" trailer provides a good overview of how the testing reflects the worst of the era in which it occurs. The perfect storm elements of the documented atrocity both make this a tale worth telling and greatly enhance the impact of the film. This begins with another city being the first choice for this experimentation of this early version of a dirty bomb; Plan B is enacted after realizing that the affected Missourians are more vulnerable to this activity under the guise of spraying for mosquitoes.
We also get the literal added insult to injury in the form of the victims of the spraying being at Ground Zero because of an allegedly altruistic program to provide quality low-income housing. This sadly is not far off from putting out a roach motel. The broader perspective of "Target" is the parallels that are made between the testing and the Nuremberg trials. A related prevalent themes include the point at which "research" must be considered human testing. Another aspect is that many documentarians compare relatively harmless sins, such as using plastic bags, to Nazism. In the case of "Target," the talking heads show that the analogy directly is apt. Another difference between "Target" and other cinema-verite films is that there is much less ambiguity. The spraying is well-documented, and the asserted impact on the population is highly credible, The relevance to viewers extends beyond prompting thoughts of modern racism; most of us doubt that the government is here to help us and is transparent regarding its efforts to maintain what the big boys consider truth, justice, and the American way. The icing on the cake is the exposure of most of us to what we blindly accept is spraying for insects. The bigger picture is that seeming endless battles over what seem to be perpetual disputes show that global leaders do not learn from history and are condemned to repeat it,
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