Arlington Road takes movie audiences on a troubled ride, where Tim McVeigh is just a warning sign and the real threat to America is right around the corner.

Tim Robbins is frustrated. "It's a ridiculous thing to believe!" he exclaims. "You don't get your hands on thousands of dollars of explosives all by yourself. You don't develop false identities and have the knowledge to stay hidden underground by yourself. It just doesn't happen."

Robbins is talking about federal prosecutors' conclusion that the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing was solely the work of two deranged individuals. But he could easily be quoting from the script of this month's thriller Arlington Road, which delivers a chilling wake-up call to those who are satisfied that domestic terrorism ended with the verdict handed down to Terry Nichols and Timothy McVeigh. The film features Jeff Bridges as a history professor obsessed with the growing threat of the militia movement, and Robbins as Bridges's neighbor whose resentment of the government may be reaching a dangerous level.

The movie is taking a risk by embracing images that are evocative of a national tragedy, but Robbins is unrepentant. "To the United States government's discredit, it has created situations that are ripe for dissent. These [militia members] are real people. It's irresponsible to pretend that they don't exist."

So is the FBI in fact searching for an army of John Does behind the Oklahoma City bombing? "There is no missing person that didn't get caught," FBI spokesperson Marjorie Poche says. The Oklahoma Bombing Investigation Committee, a citizen's organization headed by Charles Key, is not convinced and hopes to publish a report of its findings in January.