Die Brüder Menendez

Like many people I'm sure, I came to this off the back off the recent Netflix drama 'Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story' and I wanted to know more on the factual side behind the case. While the latter was well made and entertaining (if that's the right word, when the details are considered), I wish I'd just gone straight to this as there's none of the keep you guessing ambiguity of the drama which given what's at stake and having now seen both, seems quite unfair to the brothers. There's nothing fancy here, it's a meat and potatoes crime documentary of the like we've all seen many times before. But it gets the facts across and conveys the injustice of the 2nd court case well.

Netflix allowing the brothers to do an in-depth interview about the events of not only that night but their lives prior to that was much needed. It's so refreshing to hear their voices after so many years. After watching this I am convinced that the abuse happened. Mainly because of how they killed their mother. They slaughtered her like a wild animal according to the prosecutor. You wouldn't kill your mother the way they did with so many bullets if you didn't hate her to your core. I began to think of how many men will actually do you serious bodily harm if you talk about their mothers. No matter how bad of a mother she is most men would go so far as attempted murder to protect their mother. So the fact that as she tried to flee they layered her with bullets mean that she was intensely hated. And you can only hate your mother that intensely if she failed to protect you from something or abused you. In this case it was both.

If you murder your mother for money you'd do so in a less rageful way such as poisoning. The menendez brothers were telling the truth and now that they have a hearing coming up i would love to see a follow up documentary on their lives after release. I gave this documentary 9 stars because I wish that Leslie Abramson, jill Lansing and Dr. Oziel would have at least spoken on camera.

Finally, a complete revelation of the facts. When children (or anyone) are subjected to systematic psychological and sexual abuse, they are emotionally and mentally dysregulated.

People asking, "why don't they leave, why don't they tell the police?"...do not understand how psychological control works. Their family was a cult of 4. These brothers were completely irrational, illogical...mentally unwell.

Of course they were! Anyone who had lived their torturous childhood would be the same.

This documentary includes corroborating stories to support the disgusting abusive nature of their father, and the lack of care from their mother.

Sometimes with this type of abuse there is only one way out. If you have not experienced it personally, you wouldn't understand.

I've known about this case for years, but recently watched the Monsters TV series based on the case, which is basically a lightly fictionalized docuseries.

This instead is a documentary, with footage of the real trial, and with the brothers' narration. I recommend watching this documentary after watching the Monsters TV series, to get a more complete picture of the dynamics.

In this documentary, they want you to be more inclined to believe the siblings' abuse, and they succeed at doing it. I can't say whether I believe in the abuse or not, there is evidence that it happened, and at the same time there is evidence that they lied and pretended about many things, one thing does not exclude the other. But one thing is certain, both in this documentary and in the Monsters series, the second trial was not done correctly, it was not carried out guaranteeing a fair and impartial trial, it was carried out starting a priori that the only possible output would be the life imprisonment.

The Menendez brothers killed two people, and for this they deserve to serve a long sentence, but they do not deserve to be deprived of the right to a fair trial.

If their trial had taken place today, they would probably have already finished serving their sentence.

Solid documentary. It could have been a little less one sided. I understand from another documentary that there's some incriminating evidence than if it were purely self-defense (such as a recorded telephone conversation between Lyle and a friend).

We can't know for sure what happened behind closed doors in the Menendez family, I'm inclined to believe them.

In any case, what the documentary certainly achieves is that you will find the brothers more sympathetic than the first prosecutor (Pamela Bozanich), even if they were cold blooded killers.

Her behavior and attitude will infuriate you. She comes across as a typical narcissist. But perhaps because of her defensive behavior and certain things she says, you get the impression that somewhere she knows that she might have been wrong.

Her latest comments are ridiculous ("The only reason we're doing this special is because of the TikTok movement to free the Menendi" and "If that's how we're gonna try cases now, why don't we just, like, have a poll? You present the faces, everyone gets to vote on TikTok, and then we decide who gets to go home"). What is wrong with her to make such statements??

Finally, she threatens Tik Tok people who have a different opinion than herself by saying that she is heavily armed. Sounds like an aggressive toddler.

I just had to get this off my chest. Thank you.