West Of Memphis
Director: Amy Berg
Rating: 5/5
The West Memphis Three have been in the news a lot over the last few years as a whole host of celebs have got behind the trio in a bid to get them out of jail.
Amy Berg brings her documentary movie West of Memphis to the BFI London Film Festival and it is one of the best movies in this genre that I have seen all year.
The documentary tells the hitherto unknown story behind an extraordinary and desperate fight to bring the truth to light.
Told and made by those who lived it, Berg's unprecedented access to the inner workings of the defence, allows the film to show the investigation, research and appeals process in a way that has never been seen before; revealing shocking and disturbing new information about a case that still haunts the American South.
Amy Berg has delivered a movie that is riveting from start to finish and it really gets under the skin of the case.
The beginning of the movie quickly goes over the case and the first trial and how Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin were convicted of the murder of three young boys.
Berg then goes on to slowly unpick the evidence that was used to convict the trio and it soon becomes clear that this was a miscarriage of justice.
Using articulate speakers such as Peter Jackson and Eddie Veder the movie puts forward alternative ideas and theories and raises major questions about the original case.
The movie also spend a lot of time with Pam Hobbs, mother of one of the victims, and this really is the emotional heart of the movie as we see a woman who is still haunted by events of the past as she has never really got justice for the death of her son.
But the most shocking element of the movie is the evidence that is revealed about Terry Hobbs, stepfather of one of the murdered boys, and how he was never treated as a suspect.
Two and a half hours may be a little long for a documentary movie but Berg uses every second of that run time to deliver a hard-hitting and totally engrossing movie.
Berg has not done anything fancy with this film she has simply told a story and delivered the facts and in straight forward and yet effective manner.
West of Memphis is not only a movie about injustice but it is also a character study as the movie follows Echols, Misskelley and Baldwin at different points of their lives and how they have accepted what has happened and tied to rebuild those lives after their release.
This is not only one of the best documentary movies of 2012 but it is also one of the best movies of 2012 and is one that really should not be missed.
The BFI London Film Festival runs 10-21 October
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in BFI