{"id":18769,"date":"2012-02-08T23:26:02","date_gmt":"2012-02-09T07:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=18769"},"modified":"2012-02-08T23:33:31","modified_gmt":"2012-02-09T07:33:31","slug":"west-of-memphis-amy-berg-2011-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=18769","title":{"rendered":"West of Memphis (Amy Berg, 2011): USA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Tyler Rowland<\/a>.\u00a0 Viewed at Santa Barbara Film Festival 2012.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The case of the West Memphis Three is very well known and documented example of possible injustice experienced through the legal system in the United States. \u00a0This documentary detailing the supposed flaws of legal justice include police misconduct and a breakdown of the judicial system. \u00a0This is merely an echoed version of the three part HBO series titled Paradise Lost<\/em>, which covers a variety of scenarios as new evidence has come forth over the years.<\/p>\n

Director Amy Berg examines the reaction of the town of West Memphis, Arkansas following the murders of three young boys and the trial of three young men. \u00a0Interviews with local townspeople, jurors and attorneys from the trial, and even the parents of the victims sway the audience, whether right or wrong, in a particular direction. \u00a0West of Memphis\u00a0<\/em>seems to come at the audience like a montage of\u00a0Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills<\/em>,\u00a0Paradise Lost 2: Revelations<\/em>, and Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory<\/em>, a documentary series from HBO. \u00a0The audience is brought through the history of the case, from the day the boys were murdered, up through the investigation, and subsequent \u00a0trial. \u00a0We hear testimony from one of the convicted murderers as his \u00a0plea for innocence is not heard, even with evidence that could possibly overturn the conviction. \u00a0From skeptical citizens of West Memphis and people with close ties to the event to the long arm of the law that adamantly refuses to admit any wrongdoing, corruption, or degree of error we are rocked from one side to the other. \u00a0But one has to prevail, at least as the star of the film. \u00a0Support comes in for the West Memphis Three by way of social activism led by Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder and financial support from director Peter Jackson.<\/p>\n

For two and a half hours I sat through facts that had already been exposed in the three part HBO film series titled\u00a0Paradise Lost<\/em>, the only difference is, well, just read any media update of the case and you will know. \u00a0I realize that this is a serious situation and a tragedy such as this could happen anywhere in the world. \u00a0You know that there is something flawed when a juror says that “somebody had to be behind bars”. \u00a0Sympathies go out to those who have been significantly affected and always will suffer for the way this transpired. \u00a0The murder victims’ families and the men who were sent to jail were all dealt a bad hand. \u00a0My only question is, what was the director’s motivation and intentions of this film.<\/p>\n

The film was simply a review of earlier films dedicated to the events surrounding the murders. \u00a0As a member of the audience I must ask, what is Amy Berg getting out of making a film such as this? \u00a0This would be a good film for an individual who knew nothing of the case and wanted to get a crash course. \u00a0She pretty much threw the Paradise Lost<\/em>\u00a0in a blender, then threw in a couple of ingredients of her own. \u00a0Although I do not have to agree with this film, citing the lack of reasoning, I must give credit where it is due. \u00a0It was a very humbling experience to see the newly returned members of society at SBIFF’s Saturday night screening,\u00a0West of Memphis.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Tyler Rowland.\u00a0 Viewed at Santa Barbara Film Festival 2012. The case of the West Memphis Three is very well known and documented example of possible injustice experienced through the legal system in the United States. \u00a0This documentary detailing the supposed flaws of legal justice include police misconduct and a breakdown of the judicial […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1634,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75,3,181],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-documentary","category-films","category-santa-barbara-film-festival-2012"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1634"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18769\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}