No Man's Land

Why did a group of heavily armed, self-described patriots occupy the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in the winter of 2016? The occupation of Malheur emerged from economic hard times on the range; it featured a collision of symbols, the rugged cowboy of the American West versus the allegedly tyrannical federal government; it became a focal point for a plethora of right-wing causes; and it was a major media circus. Perhaps the most surprising revelation in the rigorously nonjudgmental feature documentary No Man’s Land — a Mountainfilm Commitment Grant-funded project by David Byars — is the heady sense of purpose appropriated by the occupiers in championing the cause of liberty, even as the substance of their grievance remains elusive. As militia member Jason Patrick concludes, the Malheur occupation was “basically some pissed-off people trying to get their voices heard.”