DVD Review: The Paradise Lost Trilogy Collector’s Edition

March 7, 2013 Approved By NP, Home Video, Reviews No Comments

Cast: Damien Wayne Echols, Jessie Misskelley, Jason Baldwin
Director: Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky
Country: USA
Genre: Documentary | Crime | Mystery

A tragedy struck West Memphis in 1993 that garnered a lot of notoriety. This was the triple murder of eight year-olds, left in a canal, that was said to be ritualistic, commencing a witch hunt. Memphis became Salem, searching for anyone that could be held accountable. The poor eight year-old boys were assaulted, tortured and mutilated. Fear ruled Memphis because having the killer(s) free in the town was a terrifying thought. Someone had to be arrested. This led three teenagers to fall on that sword. Thrown onto the stakes for the town to burn, the teenagers were the witches that this Salem wanted. Damien Echols the leader for their satanic rituals as a practitioner of the Wicca religion.

Flinching away from the screen only for crime scene photos and videos only because every other moment is captivating, frustrating and unbelievable.

HBO traveled down to create a documentary on the trial of the three murderers. What HBO didn’t expect was to create a divisive documentary that ended up saving three lives that would have been lost to a broken system otherwise. Media around the area made it seem like a concrete accusation that would see these three devil-worshipers have what’s coming to them. Dressing in black, listening to heavy metal music, being a pagan and a false confession made this a conviction based on prejudice alone. Eighteen years is a long time. This documentary condenses this period down to six hours and forty minutes which, despite its long running time, is gripping. Flinching away from the screen only for crime scene photos and videos only because every other moment is captivating, frustrating and unbelievable.

The directors, Joe Beringer and Bruce Sinofsky, didn’t realise how important and influential their piece of original filmmaking would be. Going down to report on the atrocities turned into a plea for the accused who were innocent. Prejudice was the only evidence that seemed to be apparent for these teenagers when a jury had already decided on the outcome before the trial commenced. Practicing paganism - in which Damien Echols describes as seeing ‘God as a Goddess’ and ‘being involved with nature’ - seemed to be confused with devil worshipping, human sacrifices and black magic. Something that is completely outside of the Wicca religion. This misrepresentation helped send Damien Echols to death row where he would stay for close to two decades.

This trilogy made people protest the injustice of three people, a broken system and a biased outcome from corrupt police with a worse judge and jury. The first summarises the trial, the problems with it, the instant bias, discussions with the victims’ families, the accused and other locals around the murders. The rest of the trilogy is the continuation of the struggle for justice; appealing to a judicial system that refuses to recognise its mistake. In their problematic quest for freedom that traversed many appeals, a lot of new evidence, a lot of support from people around the world that spanned over 18 years, the directors follow changing from their unbiased stance of the first to helping the boys prove their innocence.

The rest of the trilogy is the continuation of the struggle for justice; appealing to a judicial system that refuses to recognise its mistake.

Although, boys is a wrong term for them now. After so many years, they’ve spent half of their lives incarcerated where they’ve become men and somehow not become cynical, it’s difficult to understand their understanding of the misery they’ve been through. Three inspirational people have merged from a heart wrenching story of hopeful sufferers, making daily qualms seem much more than trivial. Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Miskelly are now memorable names but stained in West Memphis - their names have been cleaned but the ignorant few will never accept it. In prison, the three suffered a lot of hatred, pain, danger and difficulty in all of their ways. Damien had the same treatment as the victims, being raped as the guards passively stand by. A horrible thought for an innocent man.

The documentary trilogy is one of the most influential, important, incisive and informative modern ones because it saved lives; it stopped Damien from dying on death row, it then released the three to a life outside of prison, that’s how important these films were. The films are still important. It’s important to recognise that these mistakes happen because systems aren’t flawless as there’s always an element of human error. Human error is unavoidable, especially when people’s emotions and outside influences affect the outcome. Fair trials can hardly be had when the media sensationalises the story, bombarding the world with information - true or not - that it’s hard to only judge on court proceedings.

Gripping all the way through, it’s one of the most important documentaries of the past few decades, making it as relevant as anything Michael Moore has made in his career. Its importance should never be forgotten and it should be held as a tent pole of mob mentality convictions, problems with the system and the overt involvement of the media. Even the documenters’ involvement is rare and too much but it was, for once, a positive influence, asking the questions that led to the truth. Panic and outrage are feelings that should be left outside of the courtroom but being human causes these to affect and cloud judgement. This documentary - counting it as one important film - is fascinating, unpredictable and as erratic as some of the eccentric characters that accentuate it. Justice is a broken system when it’s a witch hunt in a modern Salem, one that can take almost two decades to fix.

86/100 ~ GREAT. Gripping all the way through, it’s one of the most important documentaries of the past few decades, making it as relevant as anything Michael Moore has made in his career. Its importance should never be forgotten and it should be held as a tent pole of mob mentality convictions, problems with the system and the overt involvement of the media.

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