Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky’s 1996 documentary, Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, is a chilling critique of the American judicial system and how societal norms too easily shape law in the United States. The film, which follows the court cases of Jessie Misskelley, Damien Echols, and Jason Baldwin as they are tried for the murder and mutilation of three boys in West Memphis, Arkansas, presents an interesting and abnormal case in documentary standards as HBO, who produced the piece, become pivotal in the story that is being told. While the documentary begins by evenly presenting the various perspectives of those taking part in Misskelley, Echols, and Baldwin’s trials (the defendants, victim’s families, lawyers, etc), the film takes a sudden shift when one victim’s father leads a film producer to reasonably believe that he had actually killed the three boys, and not Misskelley, Echols, or Baldwin. From that point on, the documentary notably shifts in focus and presents the trial from the perspective of the teens being tried. Because the film uses a fair amount of unedited footage from the trial, one still gets the sense of authenticity behind the images they are shown. However, “behind-the-scenes” footage of the case, like shots of legal teams discussing how to go about the trial, muddy the narrative’s absolute truthfulness. Thus, one is genuinely perplexed as to whether or not Misskelley, Echols, and Baldwin are guilty or innocent.
Teaching Activity:
In the spirit of examining television news and who funnels funds into the production of news broadcasts, I think it is equally important to examine who is funding documentary productions. After all, documentaries, even more unabashedly than traditional Hollywood films, push an agenda of some sort. Thus, I envision having my students picking a documentary, screening the film, and then researching who produced the film and the ideologies of said producer – looking at trends in the films they make, what audiences they bring in, what they do with their money, etc. Then, using VoiceThread, I would have each student discuss the implications of having the producer of their chosen documentary tell their film’s story.
Again I really appreciate your attention to detail and eye for the political in your thinking. I think bringing attention to the producers and their intentions around documentaries is very important. As unabashed as documentaries are about agendas I think most people are fooled into thinking they are the most 'natural' to watch. We seem to forget our critical lens often when we are watching documentaries so I think bringing this to the attention of your students is an excellent idea.
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