The Max’s problems, and how its flawed design was involved in the flight crashes on Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines, which killed hundreds, have been well aired, and this documentary, directed by Rory Kennedy (“Last Days in Vietnam”) , does not make news or groundbreaking cinematic. (We don’t need to see additional footage from a journalist on the phone.) But it’s likely to leave viewers shocked, and it’s always understandable, even in sequences illustrating what the pilots saw in the cockpit. As the film explains, in the initial crash, they were put in a position where it took them seconds to knock back a system that Boeing never told pilots was on the plane.
“Downfall” shows interviewees who have become lost or abstracted from all coverage, including the Lion Air captain’s wife, relatives of the passenger victims, and former Boeing employees. “How many times have you heard companies say, ‘We strive for excellence, we are committed to safety, we are committed to our customers’?” asks Andy Pasztor, who covered the story for The Wall Street Journal, in a nutshell. His verdict: “We must be skeptical.”
Demise: the case against Boeing
Rated PG-13. Disturbing material related to the crashes. Running time: 1 hour 29 minutes. Watch on Netflix.