Yet despite the film’s strengths and successes, the gap between a compelling and emotional story and the audience is left open—that is, the viewer is left wishing for a connection to Zapata and the band. Early on in the film, Moriarty says, “Before there was a band or before there was a show or before there was a rehearsal, there was our friendship and our loyalty to one another.” As a viewer, I would like to be brought into their inner circle, to feel the closeness that family and friends talk about in this film. I get a sense of it, I am certainly told about it, but I never quite experience it for myself because the film’s perspective keeps the viewer on the outside. As an outsider looking in, my interest in The Gits and the 90s Seattle music scene is sparked. As a human being, I am devastated by the senselessness and violence of Zapata’s death. But as the film progresses, it feels like it is made for the fans, friends, and family of the band. It is disappointing because, after watching the film, I really, really want to be on the inside.

The disconnect happens between the telling of The Gits’ story and the possibility of greater insight into who they were and how they impacted those around them.  If the filmmakers told this story from a different perspective or from an outsider’s point of view, they might have provided a better understanding of not only the band’s impact and beloved status, but Zapata’s as well. A group of her friends—including Agnew—began a nonprofit organization called Home Alive, one dedicated to offering free self-defense classes and training. The entire community and Zapata’s bandmates rallied to the cause. Moriarty, Dresdner, and Kessler teamed up as Evil Stig with rocker Joan Jett for performances that helped pay for the search for Zapata’s killer (who was captured and convicted on DNA evidence a decade after the crime). The film leaves out this intense community response. Consequently, outsiders in the audience are left wanting a larger context.

Perhaps, the feeling of being on the outside is what Director Kerri O’ Kane and Producer Jessica Bender are going for. The space between the outside stance of the audience and the inside perspective of those interviewed connotes emptiness and the simultaneous desire and powerlessness to change the tragic event of Zapata’s death. The story and emotion are there, as is the disconnect—the reality that is the unfinished story of The Gits.