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Released by: Warp Film
Released on: 6/27/2005
Director: Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky
Cast: Jessie Miskelly, Jason Baldwin, Damien Wayne Echols
Released: 1996/2000
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The Movies:
Isn't the American judicial system supposed to stand by the motto “innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt?†If that's the case, why are Jessie Miskelly, Jason Baldwin and Damien Echols sitting prison, Damien on death row? That's the question posed by the Emmy Award winning Paradise Lost: The Child Murders At Robin Hood Hills, a 1996 documentary from Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky (who would later go on to make Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster) originally made for HBO that makes a pretty damn good case that these three kids got screwed by their community.
Better known as The West Memphis Three, Miskelly, Baldwin and Echols are currently incarcerated for the gruesome and horrifying murders of three boys in a rural section of West Memphis, Arkansas known as Robin Hood Hills.The three bodies were discovered on a river bank, mutilated and sexually abused in what appeared to be some sort of Satanic ritual. The film, shot over the span of a year during the time that the three accused murderers were on trial, goes about asking questions not only of the three suspects but also of the parents and families of the victims, members of the community, and members of the court including defense and prosecution attornies. The picture it paints is horrifying not only because of the scope of the crimes they were put on trial for, but because of how shoddy the prosecution's case was and the fact that they were able to convict them as guilty on all counts.
Make no mistake, Paradise Lost does not prove that the West Memphis Three are innocent, but that's not what is important. What is important is that it sure as Hell looks like they're not guilty - two very different things. Yes, it is possible that they did it but it has not been proven inconclusively that they did - now their lives are forever screwed up anyway. There are simply too many unanswered questions about the case for this to have been a fair trial. Why did the cops let a man seen near the murder scene on the night of the crime who was covered in blood at a restaurant just disappear without following up? Why wasn't more thought put into the fact that one of the boys' fathers gave the filmmakers a knife that may have contained his own son's blood on it and that could have been used to make the wounds on the bodies? What about the witness testimony that conflicts with the actual proven events that took place that night? What about the fact that the first two hours of the interrogation of Jessie Miskelly, who has an IQ of only seventy two, were not recorded nor will any of those involved in said interrogation speak up about those two hours? Was Miskelly forced into speaking out against his friends under duress? It's certainly possible.
In short, without wanting to sound like a wacko conspiracy theorist, it's very possible and, dare I say it, very likely that these three kids were convicted not because they were guilty but because the local authorities screwed up and didn't catch anyone and, under mounting pressure from an understandably upset public, pinned it on three kids who really didn't fit in so well in the small Bible Belt community they had the luck of being born into. If that is the case, obviously that's just wrong. Though I have nothing but the deepest of sympathies for the families of those who were killed and nothing but the utmost sadness at the completely unnecessary loss of three young lives, the families of those killed latched onto the idea of the three older boys being the guilty ones with such fervor and hatred that it's literally frightening. Rage and anger over their children's death is completely forgiveable but to allow someone to film you using a pistol that leaves no marks on the bullet (rendering it impossible to identify with most ballistic testing) while practicing your target shooting on a pumpkin and calling out the names of the three accused doesn't really do much to win anyone's trust or compassion - it makes you look like a lunatic. It's interesting to watch some of the parents pose for the cameras and add as much dramatic depth to their segments as they do, too. But that's beside the point. The focus shouldn't be on whether the parents are crazy or not but on the fact that there are three people in jail for something that it's very possible they had no part in. They were linked to Satanic activities that none of them were proven to have partaken in and they were seen as outcasts because they listened to Slayer and wore black t-shirts (gasp!) in a community so closed minded that they couldn't accept that.
Four years later, Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky returned to familiar territory with their 2000 follow up film, Revelations: Paradise Lost 2.
Overall, yes, the material and presentation is a little biased in favor of the three kids but it has to be in order to make the case. There are times where the two documentaries do tread the line of what they should or should not show and there are some truly graphic harrowing moments and stills used throughout the film that are sure to upset some people but the blunt portrayal of the murders only serves to show how horrible they really were.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Both films were made for HBO and intended for a home video audience so the 1.33.1 fullframe format makes sense, which is how both films are presented on this two disc set. The bulk of the footage for the two documentaries was shot on video and as such it has some of the softness usually associated with the format but for the most part, both films do look very good here. The colors are lifelike and very natural looking, time was obviously taken to light the interviews and recorded footage as well as possible and the end result is quite a decent looking picture. There's some mild edge enhancement but no problems with mpeg compression artifacts or print damage.
The English language Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo tracks on both films are just fine. Some of the footage shot outdoors or in less than ideal environments such as courtrooms and the like sounds a little on the hollow side but that's to be expected, really. Dialogue and background music (most of which is supplied by Metallica - Sanitarium from Master Of Puppets gets a lot of airtime here) sound nice and clean and while this is hardly home theater demo material, it doesn't need to be either. It works just fine as it is. Subtitles are provided in French, Italian, Spanish, German and Japanese.
The Final Word:
Two very important documentaries get an impressive release from Britain's Warp Films. The audio and video quality is quite nice, the commentary is fascinating, and overall this is a very nicely produced and disturbingly informative package. The Paradise Lost: The Child Murders At Robin Hood Hills / Revelations: Paradise Lost 2 double feature should be required viewing for anyone interested in just how twisted the system can get sometimes.
For more information on this, please do check out www.wm3.org.