Documentary Notes: Paradise Lost 3

Synopsis (From Wikipedia):

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory is a 2011 documentary film and sequel to the films Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills and Paradise Lost 2: Revelations. The three films chronicle the arrest, 18-year imprisonment, and eventual release of Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley, otherwise known as the West Memphis Three. The films, directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, are considered to play a substantial role in generating publicity, awareness, and support for the innocence of the West Memphis 3.^[1]

My notes:

Intense beginning. Bringing people up to speed.

First part of the movie reminds people of the story. How does this compare?

Traditional documentary.

Lots of talking heads.

Interesting how the filmmakers stayed with this story for over 20 years.

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Also interesting commentary on media… and what the role of media is in this situation. Hysteria about cults and Satanism

How could these kids get a fair trial.

Interesting use of multiple codecs. 4X3 media was shown inside a black box.

--Talked to people who did stuff…activists… foundation to raise money for west Memphis 3.

This film is really interesting.. . especially how the filmmakers followed the story for 20+ years. They gathered a lot of interest in the story with their documentaries and it started a grassroots campaign to get the kids help. However, over the last year after the Memphis 3 were released, another movie was made.  West of Memphis: http://www.sonyclassics.com/westofmemphis/

This was with the help of Peter Jackson and his wife, Fran Lewis. They produced a movie with Damien Echels (one of the Memphis 3) and his wife Lorri Davis (who he met while in jail). She found out about him through the Paradise Lost documentaries.

While I haven’t watched the film, West of Memphis, I watched the trailer and was shocked by how much this movie lifted off of the Paradise Lost trilogy. Using footage from PL, they craft their narrative about what “really happened”. I am having issues with this film because it felt like Peter Jackson used this film on the backs of Paradise Lost. Why create another film about this? I can understand that Damien Echels might want to tell his story. That makes sense, but lifting footage directly from Paradise Lost, and also other somewhat unethical tactics that were used in this documentary is what is keeping me from watching this.  It would be interesting to pursue this further about the ethics of documentary. . . to be dealt with at a later date.