Review of They Called Him Mostly Harmless

I enjoyed this documentary, which had two layers. One was a mystery about the identity of a reclusive hiker who died on the Appalachian Trail, apparently of starvation. The other was a character study of the very strange people who are obsessed with amateur internet sleuthing. The two layers intersect through the puzzling obsession of two women who never met the deceased but for some strange reason they spend inordinate amounts of time trying to figure out who he was. One of those women lives in an extended stay hotel, which made me wonder whether she could have afforded rent if she spent her time working a paying second job instead of spending all her time moderating a group of internet "sleuths." Apparently a lot of people wish they worked in law enforcement. The people were very odd, some likable and some not. I thought the film was well done, with good structure that kept my attention despite being overly long. I'm not sure where reviewers got the idea this was true crime because it was not advertised like that.