Marshall Shaffer Says Don’t Forget: Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?

“Whiteness can incinerate a family with the heat equal to a bomb,” intones narrator Travis Wilkerson, the filmmaker and subject of Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun? “Give it enough time and whiteness will incinerate the world.” On its face, the documentary serves as a recounting of Wilkerson’s journey to determine the veracity of family lore that his white grandfather killed a man in 1940s Alabama without consequences. But Wilkerson’s investigation uncovers how the past is far from over or settled. Most obviously, he discovers that many in Alabama do not want him examining the state’s sordid racial history. Yet the real revelation of Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun? comes from Wilkerson subtly revealing how the present he observes stands as a direct result of the inequalities borne from white supremacy. Taken altogether, this documentary is the best extrapolation of a personal narrative to reflect upon societal phenomena since Sarah Polley’s Stories We Tell – and a deeply discomfiting examination of white identity and privilege with the power to rattle viewers to their core.