By Rob Owen
Special to The Seattle Times
After documentary filmmaker Rory Kennedy made the 2022 Netflix film “Downfall: The Case Against Boeing,” she had no intention to revisit the topic. But two things happened that changed her plans: A door plug blew off an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 shortly after takeoff from Portland in January 2024, and former Boeing employee and whistleblower John Barnett died during a break from testifying in a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit against Boeing two months later.
“I had interviewed him and known him and kept in touch with him after making ‘Downfall,’ ” Kennedy said in a Zoom interview this month. “In the aftermath of his death, a number of whistleblowers reached out to me directly to say, ‘You really have to come back and tell this story because we’re seeing things not only reverting back to how they used to be but actually getting worse.’ … You actually see this in the film: They were compelled to (speak out) because of John.”
While Kennedy’s “Downfall” was focused on the two 737 MAX crashes (in October 2018 off the coast of Indonesia and in March 2019 near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia), Kennedy describes her new, 90-minute Netflix doc, “Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing,” as a broader story about what’s happened inside Boeing and Boeing factories from the perspective of whistleblowers.
“It’s very much a story about corporate malfeasance, and unfortunately, this is not a company that’s making dishwashers,” Kennedy says. “They’re making airplanes, and many of us fly. And if we don’t fly, pretty much everybody knows people who do fly. … You walk through an airport, and have to trust that the government’s doing its job, and that the corporation that is making these airplanes, Boeing, is doing their job to make sure safety is enforced. What we’re finding here is that that’s really not true.”
A scene from “Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing,” which premieres Aug. 19 on Netflix. (Courtesy of Netflix)
In addition to interviews with past and current Boeing employees, “Freefall,” streaming Wednesday, relies on interviews with several journalists, including retired Seattle Times reporter Dominic Gates, to recount the story of Boeing’s approach to airplane manufacturing over the past two decades.
“There is something compelling about condensing the story to a 90-minute experience,” says Kennedy, whose previous films include HBO’s “Ghosts of Abu Ghraib.” “You also have scenes in the film, undercover footage inside the Dreamliner factory, with factory workers talking about how they wouldn’t (fly) on a 787. These are the people who make the airplane.”
Those employees are not alone. Kennedy says when booking her travel, she specifically avoids flying on 737 MAX and 787 Dreamliner aircraft.
“Freefall” also chronicles efforts by the families of the victims of the 737 MAX crashes to hold Boeing and its executives criminally liable.
But the film begins with Barnett’s death and acknowledges the conspiracy theories that sprung up around it — insinuations that Barnett did not take his own life.
“The conspiracy theories are really focused on how people responded at the time,” Kennedy says. “They’re not meant to be legitimized, but it’s actually framed by looking at how people respond to Boeing and how readily they’re willing to believe in a conspiracy theory because they’ve lost such faith in the company.”
“Freefall” ultimately shows the coroner reporting her finding of suicide to Barnett’s family, and the film doesn’t suggest there’s any reason to doubt suicide as the cause of death.
A scene from “Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing,” which premieres Aug. 19 on Netflix. (Courtesy of Netflix)
A spokesperson said Boeing has worked to address some issues raised in the film, while other allegations “have been widely reported” and “some remain unfounded claims to this day.”
Since 2024, the company has hired a new CEO, charted a new safety and quality plan and established a new set of company values, the spokesperson added.
“Boeing employees are holding themselves and others accountable to keeping people safe, speaking up, and doing the right thing,” the spokesperson said, pointing toward “improvements in how we work together and deliver quality products.”
Kennedy, the daughter of the late U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy, says she hopes viewers who watch “Freefall” will see the need to continue to put pressure on Boeing and on government officials “to make sure corporations, Boeing specifically but other corporations, too, are being regulated, and that there really needs to be a focus on the public interest.”
With two Boeing documentaries under her belt, could Kennedy see making it a trilogy?
“I really hope I’m not compelled to do a third,” she says. “I hope they just right their ways and get back on track.”
‘Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing’
The documentary begins streaming Aug. 19 on Netflix.
Rob Owen: robowentv@gmail.com.