PARADISE LOST: THE CHILD MURDERS AT ROBIN HOOD HILLS
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1996 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ****
"God, please help us through this. God, please help us through this," wails John Mark Byers. His eight year old stepson has been brutally tortured, raped, and murdered and his grief is understandably overwhelming him. Viewers will be whispering the same sentiments to themselves as they sit through the movie.
PARADISE LOST: THE CHILD MURDERS AT ROBIN HOOD HILLS is one of the most realistically tragic documentaries ever. Directed and edited by brilliant documentarians Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, who worked together previously on BROTHER'S KEEPER, the show is a tour de force. Rarely has the cinema been this powerful, this engrossing, and this painful to watch.
In 1993 three second graders, Steven Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore were viciously killed at Robin Hood Hills near West Memphis, Arkansas. Soon thereafter the police picked up three teenagers: Jessie Lloyd Misskelly, age 17; Damien Wayne Echols, age 18; and Charles Jason Baldwin, age 16 and charged them with the murder.
The police find satanic books with key passages underlined in Damien Echols's bedroom, and they get a full confession from Jessie Misskelly that implicates all three of them. Misskelly weaves a macabre tale of satanic rituals that were performed on the hapless little boys. A television reporter asks Chief Inspector Gary Gitchell, "On a scale of one to ten how solid do you think the case is?" Gitchell confidently replies, "Eleven."
The filmmakers were afforded a unique opportunity that they used to maximum effect. They were present during almost every part of the trial and its preparations. This includes attorney strategy sessions and interviews with the defendants and the witnesses.
The editing of the film is flawless. It serves only to enlighten and never to confuse. If there is a mistake made in the film, it is that the filmmakers are somewhat more sympathetic to the defendant's arguments than to the prosecution's, but it is on whole, a well-balanced documentary.
Although the film is unrated, it is NC-17 material. The shocking video and still pictures of the crime scene are essential to showing graphically how heinous were the actions of the killers, but they are suitable for viewing only by mature adults. Even hardened critics like I frequently have to look away. In the clips that we are shown the boys have turned blue and are mutilated. Sickening. Sickening. And yet, I am glad the show was this explicit. The truth is horrible, and should not be censored. People should know how bad it is.
In the press kit, the filmmakers argue that the reason they feel their approach is not gratuitous is that "our society has become so desensitized to news reports of violent crime that we felt it was important that the viewer really feels and emotionally recognizes the horrific nature of the crime." I concur.
Because of the confession, the trials are separated with Misskelly's trial going first. Although there are many surprises at the trials, I will not give anything away other than that necessary to set up the cases. Suffice it to say, that you would not like to have not been called to serve on either jury. If you had been, the phrase "reasonable doubt" and the pictures of the little boys would be indelibly marked on your brain and would forever making your sleeping difficult.
The parents of the victims and of the accused take center stage in this real life drama. This is backwoods Arkansas. The people in the film are uniformly poor and naive. Each is convinced that they know all the answers and that god is on their side.
In an alternatively moving and chilling sequence, John Mark Byers sings "That old rugged Cross" in church. After that he goes outside and shows off a big gun he has that he claims has untraceable bullets. He shoots round after round into an exploding pumpkin and tells the camera how he will blow off the heads of those teenagers if the courts ever let them go.
Fundamentalist Christianity is prominently featured in the film. One of the signs on the church proclaims that "Satan has no unemployment problems." People babble biblical phrases continually in nonsensical arguments for their cause.
The heart of the first trial is whether Jessie Misskelly, who has an IQ of 72, gave his confession willingly. Was he feed the information by the police and just parroted some back to get them off his back? Before you decide if you think this is a potentially valid line of reasoning, see the trial first. It is not as simple as it sounds.
As I watched the film, I thought how I would have walked out had it been a fictional show. People like these do not exist, and the actors are shamelessly overacting. Except this is exactly what happened and as it happened.
In the second trial the evidence looks as if it may be mainly circumstantial, and the big question is whether the prosecution can get Jessie Misskelly to testify. Both defense and prosecution have major aces up their sleeves. A parent of one of the victims gives a Christmas present to a member of the documentary crew, and it turns out that it may or may not be a key piece of evidence.
During one of the trial's recesses, Damien complains that, "West Memphis is sort of like Second Salem because whatever happens is blamed on Satanism."
Rather than evoking tears, the film is more likely to make your emotional systems rupture because it is so hard to take in all that is arrayed before you. Clearly one of the best films of the year, and certainly the hardest of them all to endure.
PARADISE LOST: THE CHILD MURDERS AT ROBIN HOOD HILLS runs 2:30, and I would not want one a minute of it deleted. It is unrated but would be NC-17. It has some of the most horrendous images you will ever see. Do not let your teenagers go. Period. I give the film my absolute top rating of **** and say people should see it if they are up to it.
**** = One of the top few films of this or any year. A must see film. *** = Excellent show. Look for it. ** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable. * = Poor show. Don't waste your money. 0 = One of the worst films of this or any year. Totally unbearable.
REVIEW WRITTEN ON: December 2, 1996
Opinions expressed are mine and not meant to reflect my employer's.
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