West of Memphis

West of Memphis

This documentary, produced by Peter Jackson, examines the 1993 triple homicide of three eight-year-olds, investigation and trial of three teenagers and the subsequent efforts to overturn their conviction. While the story itself spans a 20-year period, this documentary focuses upon the most recent attempts at re-examining the evidence and freeing those convicted (one of whom confessed).

The story's already been told in HBO's "Paradise Lost" 1 - 3 (yep, this is the FOURTH doc on the subject), but this tale has been going on for twenty-years and has had multiple layers. If you haven't seen any of the other movies, or know nothing of the case, not to worry - West of Memphis does a fantastic job telling you the story from start to finish and in refreshing the memories for those of us to whom it's familiar.

I'm normally not bothered by graphic images, but my only complaint for this movie is the frequency of the explicit crime scene and autopsy photos of the victims - truly disturbing and haunting...I felt it was too much and took away from the film - the story itself, and sad realization that there were six actual victims, is overwhelming enough without being visually assaulted. I'm not one to normally feel the need to close my eyes or to look away, but here, I did.

And what a shame, by forcing me to look away, it forced me to tentatively recommend this film to everyone - it's tough to watch and revisiting how six children lost their lives is harrowing. While our country has the best justice system in the world, it's not perfect and works best for those who are able to afford the finest legal council money can buy (right, OJ?!) - in any case, "Justice delayed is justice denied".

I highly recommend it - but, I've warned you...it's tough.

Martin Luther King said, "The arc of history is long but it bends toward justice." Justice has been a long-time coming for Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, three marginalized teenagers wrongfully convicted of the 1993 murders of three eight-year-olds: Steven Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers, found dead in a creek in West Memphis, Arkansas. The subject has been brought to the screen before in the "Paradise Lost" trilogy, yet the documentary West of Memphis, directed by Amy Berg and written by Billy McMillin, adds another dimension to our knowledge and understanding of the circumstances and the characters involved. It is a film of extraordinary power that has the ability to stir a range of emotions from frustration, anger, depression, to even joy.

After the victims were found beaten, bruised, and sexually mutilated, hysteria gripped the town and word circulated about the killings being the work of a satanic cult. Despite a lack of physical evidence, the accused teenagers were charged with three counts of capital murder and brought to trial. Damien Echols was sentenced to death, while Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley both received life sentences. Jesse confessed to the crime but the audio recording of Jessie's interrogation reveals that the prosecution took advantage of the mildly retarded boy by feeding him the desired answers. Soon after the verdict was handed down much to the relief of the bereaved parents and frightened residents, critics of the case began to point to serious discrepancies in the evidence.

It was also found out later that many of the visible physical injuries were caused after the children's death by turtles living in the swamp. The subsequent media attention led to a twenty-year campaign to free the inmates who become known as the Memphis 3. West of Memphis includes archival footage of the trial and press reports, a police investigation video, and contemporary interviews with victim's families, supporters of the convicted men including their attorneys, and celebrities such as Johnnie Depp, Eddie Vedder, and filmmakers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh. If not for the courage and, of course, the financial support of those who fought a long battle to overturn the convictions, Damian might have been executed years ago.

Of the three convicted men, much of the film's focus is on Damian, a self-educated and highly articulate young man, describing his correspondence and subsequent marriage to New York Landscape Architect Lorri Davis. Despite the community protest and continued investigation of the case that unearthed new evidence, particularly DNA evidence, it became increasingly apparent that the justice system in Arkansas would rather perpetuate a lie than admit serious mistakes and become vulnerable to a series of damage suits. Even though he is presented with overwhelming evidence for a new trial, the original judge, David Burnett (now a state senator) refused to reconsider the case.

As a result of the continued pressure by those working for the boys' release, another suspect emerges who has never been investigated before and was the last person seen with the murdered boys. The thrust of this new lead propels West of Memphis toward a dramatic and surprising conclusion. Although some of the tactics of the investigation are open to question, such as filming a young girl's session with a psychiatrist and recording a private telephone conversation, West of Memphis is a riveting experience that suggests incidents of injustice and abuse of power such as this may be more common than we think.

While the story of the West Memphis Three, their awful flawed trial and subsequent efforts to obtain freedom were well covered in the "Paradise Lost" trilogy of films, this single film overview has a lot of value.

Perhaps because the case can now be looked back on in total, it feels like there is a clearer focus here than in the excellent "Paradise Lost" series. There also seems to be more of an emphasis on the emotion and humanity of all the victims – the three falsely convicted young men, but also the families that lost children.

Last, the film makes some of the awful holes in the prosecution case more simple and clear than earlier accounts, as well as putting a chilling spotlight on the possible real perpetrator, but without the theatrics that harmed 'Paradise Lost 2', which seemed guilty of what the trial did to the three boys; throw suspicion on a subject largely because he 'acted weird'.

Here the investigation into another possibility feels more dispassionate and scientific, and less manipulated, leaving one with questions rather than forcing conclusions.

The world might not have 'needed' another film on the subject, but personally, I feel the more injustice can be intelligently examined and exposed the better off we are as a society.

Just saw this at the premier in Wellington. It is a great film. The events themselves are incredible and this documentary more than does them justice.

Its late in the evening and I can't go into a long review - I also think I need to let the film sink in. My initial feeling is that this is a really amazing film - it is very carefully crafted and is a deeply compelling study on justice, family, love, commitment and friendship.

My head is spinning a bit. Watching the film felt like sitting in a room with all of those involved - listening to them talk and sharing their experience. It was such a messed up crime and the subsequent events so shocking that this has left me feeling a bit shocked.

Alright, let me be completely honest with you about how I stumbled upon this documentary.

For most of my life, I had no idea who or what the West Memphis 3 were. I'm a 23 year old girl, living in Toronto. When these crimes were committed, I was in kindergarten likely learning how to read. So the fact I never heard of the crime never exactly surprised me. And if it wasn't for Johnny Depp, I probably would have never heard of the crimes to begin with.

I first learned about the West Memphis 3 watching a Johnny Depp interview on David Letterman. I was intrigued, looked up the case, became slightly disturbed, and unfortunately, forgot about it for a while. I hadn't actually heard about the case again until TIFF announced the final films in its 2012 program. West of Memphis sounded familiar, and low and behold, it had been the topic of the discussion in that said interview. After reading that Depp was attending and discussing the film after, I purchased the tickets.

Now I'll be honest, it may be slightly sad or pathetic, but Johnny Depp was the main reason I decided to see West of Memphis. I'm a huge fan of his work, and I had the opportunity to see him discuss a film, so of course I was getting the tickets. I realized after the film, if it wasn't for Depp I'd never even know about the West Memphis 3, and that made me realize how much the media and publicity truly helped their case. I barely knew a thing about them before I walked into the screening, but coming out, I was glad I blindly followed Depp towards it.

West of Memphis tells a true story that the world needs to hear. It's a film that I sincerely believe everyone needs to see simply so they can be aware of how cruel the justice system really can be.

he story of the Memphis 3 is eye opening, and disturbing. It's terrifying to know how badly the justice system can fail somebody. For nearly two decades Damien Echols, Jason Misskelley and Jason Baldwin sat behind bars for no real reason, while a murderer walked free. The crimes they were charged with were absolutely horrendous, and they were suspects purely because they fit a stereotype. That fact alone is just plain wrong. Facts were ignored, forensics were wrong, and three young men suffered due to the failure and lies of others. Stuff like this shouldn't happen, but yet it does. The worst part about it all is that the three men are still technically guilty. They may be free from imprisonment, but they're not innocent in the eyes of the law.

I'm not normally very big on documentaries, but I think this is an important film to watch purely because it's a crime and trial that shouldn't be forgotten. The film is over, but the story isn't. Justice hasn't been served yet, and that's something that needs to change.

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