The Perfect Neighbor (2025) (Netflix Documentary)
Last week I watched the documentary "The Perfect Neighbor" on Netflix. I came across this documentary in a newsletter and the subject was quite intruiging.
This documentary is about conflict in a suburban community in Ocala, Florida. A woman named Susan Lorincz repeatedly calls the police complaining about children making noise and allegedly trespassing.
The interesting part is that this documentary mainly exists of body cam footage of the cops showing up on the scenes. This footage gives a view on the relationship between Susan and the rest of the neighbors.
The situation escalates when a mother of one of the kids; Ajike Owens, went to Susans house and Susan killed Ajike by shooting through the door. Ajike didn't survive this.
Susan gets arrested and says she was affraid that Ajike was going to kill her, so she shot in self-defence. And in Florida there is a “Stand Your Ground” law.
The documentary ends with the trial agains Susan.
My opinion
It's a real heavy documentary. The real footage makes you experience the emotions fully. Especially the part where the kids get to hear their mother didn't survive.
The documentary does give you a lot to think about for instance the Stand your ground law, the amount of weapons in America, racial issues and the role of law enforcement.
The documentary didn't focus on that, but what got me thinking was how can a person get to this point of doing this? Why was there nobody (in her family, in the neighborhood, from law enforcement) that noticed that this was going in the wrong direction and maybe even prevented this disaster.
There are a more examples like this where angry, mostly lonely people snap and see violence as their only way out. With this, I am by no means excusing her actions. But I do think we need to pay attention to these people because these things are happening. And I think they are happening more and more. Especially in countries with laws like stand your ground and where weapons are easily accessible.
If you can stand the emotions, I would recommend you to watch the documentary yourself.
Friendlymoose
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This documentary tackles a very current social issue that should interest all of us. Thank you for your review and recommendation. Regards, @friendlymoose
Wow thanks for the review! I will watch it definitely now. For some reason I thought I already watched something similar on Netflix and didnt pay attention.
You're welcome!
This is a new release on Netflix (at least in my region).
Apparently it is an ironic title! I read it and I am concerned about the human being's capacity for self-destruction. But what can we expect from today's societies, from the ordinary citizen, when leaders, presidents, remain at war with their neighboring countries? On one hand, there are campaigns promoting tolerance, but at the same time, a group promotes xenophobia, misogyny, racism, even aporophobia. I am going to reblog because I need to see this documentary. Thanks for recommending it. Regards
Ironic indeed. It's a quote you hear Susan say to one of the police officers in the documentary. Tolerance is indeed sometimes hard to find.
I was shocked too at the end of this documentary I never imagined she will shot someone!! This docu series makes us really reflect on the way that use of weapons it's so free in the usa. I'm not agree with that too many mad and dangerous people can have a gun that's not fair!!
In my eyes it's bizarre that you can buy weapons in Wall Mart in the United States.
The high number of murders is definately linked to the ease of access to weapons.