X
  • 2018
  • Grasshopper Film
  • 1 h 30 m
  • 2018
  • Grasshopper Film
  • 1 h 30 m

Summary In 1946, my great-grandfather murdered a black man named Bill Spann and got away with it." So begins Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?, filmmaker Travis Wilkerson critically acclaimed investigation into the murder, family history, and the societal mores that allowed it to happen. Wilkerson tells a frightening and troubling story, incorpo...

Directed By: Travis Wilkerson

Written By: Travis Wilkerson

  • 2018
  • Grasshopper Film
  • 1 h 30 m
  • 2018
  • Grasshopper Film
  • 1 h 30 m

Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?

Metascore Generally Favorable Based on 11 Critic Reviews
78
User Score Mixed or Average Based on 7 User Ratings
5.7
My Score
Hover and click to give a rating Saved

Where to Watch

Summary In 1946, my great-grandfather murdered a black man named Bill Spann and got away with it." So begins Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?, filmmaker Travis Wilkerson critically acclaimed investigation into the murder, family history, and the societal mores that allowed it to happen. Wilkerson tells a frightening and troubling story, incorpo...

Directed By: Travis Wilkerson

Written By: Travis Wilkerson

Where to Watch

Top Cast

View All
View All Cast & Crew

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 11 Critic Reviews
78
82% Positive
9 Reviews
18% Mixed
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 11 Critic Reviews
78
82% Positive
9 Reviews
18% Mixed
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
100
Feb 27, 2018
The movie, a scorching and rigorous essay on memory and accountability, is neither a profession of guilt nor a performance of virtue. Though his inquiry is intensely, at times painfully personal, Mr. Wilkerson is above all concerned with unpacking the mechanisms of racial domination.
By A.O. Scott FULL REVIEW
90
It’s hard not to experience Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun? and not get shivers up your spine — from fear, from anger, and from the beauty of Wilkerson’s filmmaking.
By Bilge Ebiri FULL REVIEW
89
Apr 18, 2018
Sometimes the screen goes completely black as the film focuses solely on the audio component (Wilkerson’s voice). It has the sense of a confession, and made me wonder if this project is somehow an act of penance.
FULL REVIEW
83
Feb 27, 2018
When the repressed past gains sudden and violent visibility in the present, the genre that’s evoked is horror, and one of the film’s greatest strengths is the way it leans into this association.
FULL REVIEW
70
Recounting his attempt to learn more about his great-grandfather's killing of a black man in 1946, Wilkerson is a compelling enough guide that it may be some time before the audience starts to wonder if the central mystery is a red herring.
By John DeFore FULL REVIEW
67
Mar 1, 2018
Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun? is at its sharpest and most necessary when Wilkerson interrogates his personal connection to the past, extrapolating his reticence to explore his own family’s violent history into a national epidemic of people who are similarly reluctant to do the same.
By David Ehrlich FULL REVIEW
40
Wilkerson doesn’t mean to suggest ambiguity with his title, since no one questions the identity of the culprit, but it is regrettably indicative of his naval-gazing focus on family skeletons, combined with a deeply annoying tendency to sensationalize the obvious.
By Jay Weissberg FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

 View All
User Score
Mixed or Average Based on 7 User Ratings
5.7
43% Positive
3 Ratings
43% Mixed
3 Ratings
14% Negative
1 Rating

User Reviews

 View All
User Score
Mixed or Average Based on 7 User Ratings
5.7
43% Positive
3 Ratings
43% Mixed
3 Ratings
14% Negative
1 Rating

There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.

Details

 View All
Production Company Canada Council for the Arts, Creative Capital
Release Date Feb 28, 2018
Duration 1 h 30 m
Genres
Website http://grasshopperfilm.com/film/did-you-wonder-who-fired-the-gun/
View All Details

Awards

Ann Arbor Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Locarno International Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
Denver International Film Festival
• 1 Nomination

Related Movies

Hoop Dreams

98
Universal Acclaim

Man with a Movie Camera

96
Universal Acclaim

Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

96
Universal Acclaim

I Am Not Your Negro

95
Universal Acclaim

Woodstock

95
Universal Acclaim

Collective

95
Universal Acclaim

Amazing Grace

94
Universal Acclaim

Stop Making Sense

94
Universal Acclaim

We Were Here

94
Universal Acclaim

Faces Places

94
Universal Acclaim

David Byrne’s American Utopia

93
Universal Acclaim

Shoah: Four Sisters

93
Universal Acclaim

Our Body

93
Universal Acclaim

Sherpa

93
Universal Acclaim

The Decline of Western Civilization

93
Universal Acclaim

Brother's Keeper

93
Universal Acclaim

Crumb

93
Universal Acclaim

One More Time with Feeling

92
Universal Acclaim

Sugarcane

92
Universal Acclaim

The Act of Killing

92
Universal Acclaim

De Humani Corporis Fabrica

92
Universal Acclaim

Menus Plaisirs - Les Troisgros

92
Universal Acclaim

Related News

2024 Movie Release Calendar

2024 Movie Release Calendar

Jason Dietz

Find release dates for every movie coming to theaters, VOD, and streaming throughout 2024 and beyond, updated weekly.

  • movie
Every Zack Snyder Movie, Ranked

Every Zack Snyder Movie, Ranked

Nick Hyman

With the arrival of Zack Snyder's latest Rebel Moon chapter on Netflix, we rank every one of the director's films—from bad to, well, less bad—by Metascore.

  • movie
Every Guy Ritchie Movie, Ranked

Every Guy Ritchie Movie, Ranked

Nick Hyman

We rank every one of the British director's movies by Metascore, from his debut Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels to his brand new film, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.

  • movie
April Movie Preview (2024)

April Movie Preview (2024)

Keith Kimbell

The month ahead will bring new films from Alex Garland, Luca Guadagnino, Dev Patel, and more. To help you plan your moviegoing options, our editors have selected the most notable films releasing in April 2024, listed in alphabetical order.

  • movie
DVD/Blu-ray Releases: New & Upcoming

DVD/Blu-ray Releases: New & Upcoming

Jason Dietz

Find a list of new movie and TV releases on DVD and Blu-ray (updated weekly) as well as a calendar of upcoming releases on home video.

  • movie