Murder Mountain review: Enter the surreal, disturbing world of Humboldt County
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – APRIL 20: Pre-rolled joints are displayed during a 420 Day celebration on ‘Hippie Hill’ in Golden Gate Park on April 20, 2018 in San Francisco, California. In the first year that marijuana is legal for recreational use in California, thousands of marijuana enthusiasts gathered in Golden Gate Park to celebrate 420 day, the de facto holiday for marijuana advocates, with large gatherings and ‘smoke outs’ in many parts of the United States. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Murder Mountain: Netflix’s exposé of the conflicting legal, yet nefariously murderous, the marijuana industry in Northern California’s notorious Alderpoint area.
A police officer describes entering Alderpoint, AKA ‘the hill’ or the intimidating Murder Mountain, to investigate a murder. He is escorted by ATVs manned by masked criminals:
"“We went up in a caravan of sheriff deputies… in the front and rear of our column I see guys jump out on Enduro motorcycles with shotguns strapped to their back. “I start to reach for my sidearm and the deputy I’m with assured me, ‘don’t worry about it, that’s what they do, they’re just escorting us through the area’. I though to myself, ‘Are you kidding me?! We’re the police!’ …a surreal Mad Max scenario.”"
Even the police unnervingly refer to the hill as Murder Mountain: signs shot out; buried bodies; burnt cars; and scary faces line the scenery. Disreputable people, risky business. It’s so dangerous up there that land or property is extremely cheap.
Northern Cali’s Murder Mountain
Picturesque landscape laid back cannabis policy, and reliably liberal politics belie a literal killing field. A chasm that is witnessed in Humboldt County, California in the United States – emotionally illustrated by Netflix’s superb original documentary division in Murder Mountain.
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Worldly and natural charm often disarms a viewer, yet there was no subtle or masked introduction to this six-part exposé. An immediate impact is felt by the many parents looking for their missing – some may say naive – adult progeny who migrated to Northern California for work as dope harvesters.
Searches, tributes and eventually closure for lost loved ones is the aim for these poor folks at the beginning of episode one. Why are these people going missing? One answer is the search for fast bohemian riches in the medical marijuana fields, of course. Naturally, a notion such as this usually goes against most father and mother’s wishes.
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This is the Napa Valley for weed; an outlaw community – residents divulge reactions to their hometown are telling “wink-wink, nudge-nudge.” Alderpoint is the black hole. As well as weed crime, there’s also the more traditional mountain murders between squabbling outsiders.
So, why are all of these ‘trimmigrants’ going missing?
"“They (resettled harvesters) think they’re gonna be in paradise, smoking weed and making loads of money; the reality is that they find themselves in various dangerous situations.” – Representative, Cal Advocates for the missing"