The United States, particularly the states that fall within the ‘Bible Belt’, allow Christianity to rule over their lives and legal systems. As almost anyone in the rest of the developed world can attest, allowing religious beliefs to interfere with justice often produces false results, and persecutes the innocent in an absence of evidence. Few cases are quite as high profile of a miscarriage of justice because of religious intervention than that of the West Memphis Three.
After being reported missing on the evening of May 5th 1993, the bodies of three young boys were found the following day in the nearby Robin Hood Hills. Second graders Stevie Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers were found bound, beaten, mutilated, and drowned in a horrific crime that shook the state of Arkansas.
With no evidence found at the scene, three teenage boys were soon arrested by police for fitting the bill to be the types to carry out satanic rituals.
The documentary follows the trial of Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelly Jr., and Jason Baldwin; displaying court proceedings and interviews with family of the prosecution and defence.
After being reported missing on the evening of May 5th 1993, the bodies of three young boys were found the following day in the nearby Robin Hood Hills. Second graders Stevie Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers were found bound, beaten, mutilated, and drowned in a horrific crime that shook the state of Arkansas.
With no evidence found at the scene, three teenage boys were soon arrested by police for fitting the bill to be the types to carry out satanic rituals.
The documentary follows the trial of Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelly Jr., and Jason Baldwin; displaying court proceedings and interviews with family of the prosecution and defence.
Paradise Lost is not the kind of film I was expecting. Usually with true crime documentaries they take place after the fact, analysing what happened after a considerable amount of time has passed. But in the case of Paradise Lost, this presents its findings as they were happening, even going so far as the filmmakers themselves, Joe Berlinger & Bruce Sinofsky, providing evidence in the case which they uncovered as part of their filmmaking process.
The trial of the West Memphis Three (as the convicted teens are collectively referred to as) is one of the most high-profile miscarriages of justice in American history. Echols was sentenced to death, Misskelly sentenced to life plus forty years, and Baldwin sentenced to life all without any evidence being presented by the prosecution, and the police investigation having been so disastrously mishandled from the outset. Whilst all three men have now been released following successful appeals, it’s nothing short of baffling and disturbing as to how broken the Arkansas justice system was that they were able to be convinced of three counts of first and second-degree murder without a single shred of evidence beyond them “looking a bit weird”.
The subject matter alone is enough to make it gripping, and whilst I appreciate Berlinger & Sinofsky’s decision to take a step back and really just let the case speak for itself, it can make for a slow paced film. A lot of the problems I have relate to how little the case is really looked into, but that’s part of the price of creating this documentary as it was unfolding. Filming began just a few weeks after the discovery of the bodies, and at which time the three accused were already being lined up for trial. I would have liked to know more about the police investigation, and for questions surrounding what the parents were up to that night to be asked, and for the accused’s alibis to be given a more prominent role, but the reality of making the documentary the way they did means that the accused didn’t get to have much involvement, and it all happened so soon after the murders that the families of the victims were too emotional to get anything rational out of them.
The trial of the West Memphis Three (as the convicted teens are collectively referred to as) is one of the most high-profile miscarriages of justice in American history. Echols was sentenced to death, Misskelly sentenced to life plus forty years, and Baldwin sentenced to life all without any evidence being presented by the prosecution, and the police investigation having been so disastrously mishandled from the outset. Whilst all three men have now been released following successful appeals, it’s nothing short of baffling and disturbing as to how broken the Arkansas justice system was that they were able to be convinced of three counts of first and second-degree murder without a single shred of evidence beyond them “looking a bit weird”.
The subject matter alone is enough to make it gripping, and whilst I appreciate Berlinger & Sinofsky’s decision to take a step back and really just let the case speak for itself, it can make for a slow paced film. A lot of the problems I have relate to how little the case is really looked into, but that’s part of the price of creating this documentary as it was unfolding. Filming began just a few weeks after the discovery of the bodies, and at which time the three accused were already being lined up for trial. I would have liked to know more about the police investigation, and for questions surrounding what the parents were up to that night to be asked, and for the accused’s alibis to be given a more prominent role, but the reality of making the documentary the way they did means that the accused didn’t get to have much involvement, and it all happened so soon after the murders that the families of the victims were too emotional to get anything rational out of them.
But that’s part of what makes the terror of Paradise Lost so profound, the families of the victims. I’m not sure whether this is a cultural thing, or whether it was just the nature of the case, but the families are just so hostile. There’s no doubt in any of their minds that the three accused teenagers are guilty, and that they’re the vilest human beings on the planet. The families know that the police investigation was poorly handled, and that the only ‘evidence’ the police have is that the three boys like to listen to rock music and wear dark clothing, yet they are not only one hundred percent convinced of the guilt of these boys but spew the most hateful bile about them including threats of recreating the torture they supposedly inflicted upon the victims.
Paradise Lost is deeply disturbing, there have been few documentaries that have left me in such a state of shock and disbelief. In 1996 this would likely have been such a painful film to watch, knowing that three boys were sentenced to life in prison, or death, with no hope of parole or appeal, and without a shred of evidence to say they did it. Watching the film now, with two sequels having been produced, it is still a hard hitter, but one that does at least have the prospect of a ‘happy’ ending.
It's a little slow, and it doesn’t provide an awful lot of information on the case, but the way Paradise Lost has been constructed is unlike any documentary I have ever seen before, and it provides unparalleled access into an at the time ever evolving case. What Berlinger & Sinofsky have created here is nothing short of genius.
Paradise Lost is deeply disturbing, there have been few documentaries that have left me in such a state of shock and disbelief. In 1996 this would likely have been such a painful film to watch, knowing that three boys were sentenced to life in prison, or death, with no hope of parole or appeal, and without a shred of evidence to say they did it. Watching the film now, with two sequels having been produced, it is still a hard hitter, but one that does at least have the prospect of a ‘happy’ ending.
It's a little slow, and it doesn’t provide an awful lot of information on the case, but the way Paradise Lost has been constructed is unlike any documentary I have ever seen before, and it provides unparalleled access into an at the time ever evolving case. What Berlinger & Sinofsky have created here is nothing short of genius.