 |
Poster artwork for the true crime documentary film West Of Memphis.
|
Fighting
For Freedom by Linh
Director/writer/producer Peter Jackson (The Lord of The Rings Trilogy, The Lovely Bones) has always been ready
to work on projects that are interesting, meaningful or important to him, so
when he and his partner Fran Walsh heard about the 1993 murders of three little
boys in West Memphis, Arkansas in America, they wanted to help seek justice for
the deceased boys and freedom for the three teenage boys whom they believed
were wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for the murders. Director Amy Berg (Deliver Us From Evil, This Is America) came onboard shortly
after, and she collaborated with Jackson and Walsh, along with one of the
wrongly accused killers, Damien Wayne Echols, and his partner Lorri Davis on
this documentary.
In May 1993, the naked and mutilated bodies of three
boys, all aged eight, were found in a creek, each were hog-tied (left wrist
tied to left ankle with shoelaces and right wrist tied to right ankle with
shoelaces). The three boys were local residents of West Memphis and were named
Steven Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers. According to the West
Memphis Police Department, all three boys were killed as a result of a Satanic
ritual and they arrested three suspects – 18 year-old Damien Echols, 17
year-old Jessie Misskelley Jr., and 16 year-old (Charles) Jason Baldwin. All
three teenagers were interviewed but it was Misskelley Jr.’s so-called
confession, some dodgy testimonies and Medical Examiner Frank Peretti’s dubious
claims about Christopher Byers genital mutilation, that swayed the judge’s
verdict to find the three teenagers guilty.
 |
TEENAGE
TRIO: Police mug shots of the West Memphis Three, Damien
Echols, Jessie Misskelley Jr., and Jason Baldwin. Image: West Memphis Police
Department.
|
West
Of Memphis is a true crime documentary film inspired by the
television documentaries screened on the HBO channel in the USA called Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin
Hood Hills, Paradise Lost 2:
Revelations and Paradise Lost 3:
Purgatory. All three of the television documentaries presented compelling
evidence that the three teenagers were framed and are innocent. Jackson appears
in West Of Memphis as a supporter of
the three imprisoned teenagers, who have become known as the West Memphis
Three, and speaks of his horror and disgust at the crime committed and the
serious miscarriage of justice against the three teenagers. The film also
features Lorri Davis, who married Damien Echols while he was in prison, and her
efforts to free him and find the real killer or killers who murdered the three
children.
This documentary is mostly in chronological order, with
some archival images and interviews from the past that are shown in the
present. It chronicles the people affected by the murders, the evidence
presented in the murder trial and the aftermath of the wrongful convictions of
the West Memphis Three. Following the three tele-documentaries screened on HBO
in the US, many grew suspicious and doubtful that the three teenagers were the real
killers, as the evidence against them was highly disputable and none of the
three teenagers had any motives for the murders. People-power and support from
high profile entertainers like Eddie Vedder from rock group Pearl Jam, singer
Patti Smith, singer Natalie Maines from the alternative country group The Dixie
Chicks, actor Johnny Depp and entertainer Henry Rollins, joined forces to
create a campaign to free the West Memphis Three and raised money for the legal
funds.
 |
CHILD
CASUALTIES: Justice is still being sought for the three
murdered boys, Chris Byers, Michael Moore and Steve Branch. Image: Sony
Pictures.
|
West
Of Memphis attempts to show a balanced and even-handed approach in
its presentation of the evidence, interviews with the friends and family of the
murdered children and interviews with the defense and prosecutors for the West
Memphis Three. The aim of the documentary is to provide enough evidence to
prove the West Memphis Three were wrongly accused and wrongly convicted of the
murders and to release them from prison. However, part of the evidence to free
the three men includes finding the real killer. This was the difficult part of
the film-makers’ task because the identity of the alleged real killer is shown
in the documentary film but the defense team for the West Memphis Three have no
power to bring any charges against that person. That job is for the prosecution
team, who decided to no longer investigate the case following the release of
the West Memphis Three.
 |
PASSIONATE
PLEA: Defense lawyer Dennis Riordan, Eddie Vedder, Lorri Davis
and Natalie Maines present their argument to free the West Memphis Three in an interview
with CNN. Image: CNN.
|
This documentary is disturbing due to the themes of child
abuse, miscarriage of justice and it shows actual crime scene footage and
photographs of the murder victims when police found them. New information, more
forensic tests, new DNA evidence and recent interviews of those who gave false
testaments against the West Memphis Three were also shown. Although the film-makers have succeeded in
gaining freedom for the West Memphis Three who spent eighteen years in prison,
they are yet to seek justice for the three little boys, whose real killer still
walks free. After the end credits roll, the billboard sign featuring the West
Memphis Three is shown, accompanied by the words “information is freedom”. A
few seconds later, their photos morph into the images of the three dead boys
with the words “information is justice”. This summarises the efforts of the
film-makers in producing and screening this documentary and suggests the fight
is not over.
Director: Amy
Berg
Writers: Amy
Berg, Billy McMillin
Producers: Amy
Berg, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Damien Wayne Echols, Lorri Davis, Ken Kamins,
Matthew Dravitzki, Katelyn Howes, Alejandra Riguero, Tina Elmo, Dan Kaplow
Original
Music Composers: Nick Cave, Warren Ellis
Cinematographers: Maryse Alberti, Ronan Killeen
Film
Editor: Billy McMillin
Running
Time: 2 hours and 25 minutes
No comments:
Post a Comment