In 1985, the city of Philadelphia dropped a bomb on one of its own neighborhoods. The footage sat largely unseen for decades.
Stephen Johnson of LifeHacker listed this in his list of the 10 Documentaries You Should Watch That Are Scarier Than Horror Movies.
Trailer for “Let The Fire Burn”
You Can’t Make This Sh!t Up
- Philadelphia police dropped military-grade explosives onto an occupied rowhouse at 6221 Osage Avenue.
- Officials made the decision to “let the fire burn.” It killed 11 people, including five children.
- The blaze spread and destroyed 61 homes in West Philadelphia. The entire disaster started as an attempt to evict a group from a single rowhouse.
Watch “Let The Fire Burn”
You can watch “Let The Fire Burn” on Apple TV.
Ratings:
- My Rating: 90/100
- IMDB Rating: 7.8/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Ratings: 90/100 (Users); 98/100 (Critics)
Director’s Note: Jason Osder directed this doc. There are very few modern interviews, which makes everything feel immediate and raw.
Release Date: October 2013
Other Unique Stuff
- The entire doc is built almost only from old news footage and city recordings—no modern interviews guiding you.
- You watch officials make decisions in real time, knowing kids are inside, which makes it way more unsettling than a typical recap.
- The doc quietly shows how a normal neighborhood turned into a disaster zone in a single day.
Wrap Up:
“Let The Fire Burn” is devastating and hard to watch. If you want to understand how something like this could happen in plain sight, this one is worth your time.
Thanks for reading!
Heather Fenty, Guest Writer, Daily Doc