“Truth is what we base our reality on,” says Scarlett Lewis, mother of Sandy Hook School shooting victim Jesse Lewis, as she stares eye to eye with the man whose public spread of misinformation has led twenty-four percent of Americans to believe that her child’s death was staged. Her words cut through the courtroom in which she sits like razor blades, and they dice Alex Jones to ribbons. The irony is that Jones’ career-long, self-proclaimed pursuit of truth and free speech has led to this moment, where he sits before a judge, jury and documentary crew who stand witness to the indescribable damage of his lies and manipulations.

The Truth vs. Alex Jones is the latest film from Dan Reed, whose previous works on sensitive topics include Leaving Neverland (2019) and In the Shadow of 9/11 (2021). Here, he passionately presents the aftermath of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, in which parents and loved ones of the victims are subjected to ten years’ worth of false accusations from InfoWars creator Alex Jones about the veracity of the killings.

Reed presents the testimonies of all involved with both professionalism and humility. His film is never flashy, but there is a clear purpose and intention in the cinematography and editing. Often, the film cuts between new, original interview footage of victim parents like Lewis and archival clips of Jones. Despite the emotionally walloping testimonies, Jones’ charismatic television clips and screen presence stand front and center in the final cut. He’s a loud, intimidating man, and thanks to Reed’s filmmaking vision it’s made easy to see how his words have caused so much harm.

Immediately following the school shooting, Jones raised claims that the crime was staged, and that the parents of the victims were actors. In clips from his television program that Reed presents, Jones laughs at parent Robbie Parker’s news interview, stating that he “does look like a soap-opera actor.” In showing this footage, Reed says more than any of his own words certainly could. Jones brings about his own damnation throughout the film, slowly and inadvertently showing the ways that his pursuit of “truth” has ruined the lives and dignity of the most honorable people.

While the film’s presentation of this material is effective, there are times when it feels uninspired. There’s not much shown other than interviews and archival clips, and even though the subject matter is captivating, the delivery sometimes feels indistinguishable from other true crime documentaries. Still, the information itself is very compelling, and the film’s undistracting style does help it to remain grounded.

As the story reaches its 2022 courtroom finale, a deeply emotional “face to face” showdown (as declared by parent Neil Heslin) between Lewis, Heslin and Jones, Lewis delivers a bold and powerful statement at the witness stand: “I hope to accomplish an era of truth.” Jones stares at her blankly. It’s impossible to know in this moment if his lies have actually become his genuine, personal truth, but the look on his face says that he doesn’t care.

Eventually, Jones makes his way to the stand to “for the first time, say what’s really going on.” As he speaks, his mouth begins to hurt. He announces that he’s just gotten out of surgery to address his decade-long struggle with a problematic larynx. “It’s been like this for ten years,” he says. Little does he know, his words carry a satisfying double meaning – ten years of pain have afflicted a strong-willed group of hurting individuals, and their fight for the real truth is finally coming to an end.