So when the bodies of Stevie Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers were found in Robin Hood Hills, the focus of the criminal investigation was on satanic ritual, even though nothing about the crime scene suggested that the murders were ritualistic in nature. None of it was true, but since when has the truth ever been a barrier to human stupidity? Devil worshippers were supposedly running rampant, conducting blood rituals and orgies. They were enraptured by the satanic Panic that gripped America during this time. Although Arthur Miller would likely look at the behavior of the citizens, law enforcement, and legal figures and think that it was too over-the-top to be believable. The events depicted in this film are The Crucible writ true. Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills Now, I’ve finally amended this oversight in my cinematic knowledge, having marathoned all three. But then, I am unusual in having viewed West of Memphis before any of the Paradise Lost movies. Some have questioned what the point of yet another film about this case is, but I believe there’s value in using what is now known about the facts to condense all that’s needed to understand the West Memphis Three into one film, rather than three. Whereas the Paradise Lost films were made alongside all the developments in the case, this one was made mainly with hindsight. Amy Berg, best known for Deliver Us from Evil (which explored the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal), has directed West of Memphis, which will be released in theaters this Christmas. Now, another documentary filmmaker has tackled this subject matter. Over the course of these three films, we develop an extremely personal understanding with the various players in the West Memphis Three case. While Apted’s docs follow the course of normal life, Berlinger and Sinofsky’s show what happens in the long run to people who suffer disastrous upheavals in their lives. The trilogy can be seen as a sort of true crime counterpart to Michael Apted’s Up series. Were it not for these movies, one of the West Memphis Three would most likely have been executed by now, with the other two rotting in prison for the rest of their lives. For one thing, it’s a powerful demonstration of how cinema can move social change. The Paradise Lost trilogy is one of the most important pieces of documentary filmmaking of the modern era. They made two more movies, which, together with the first, chronicle the long, bitter fight over the West Memphis Three. And as new twists and turns arose in the case, Berlinger and Sinofsky returned to West Memphis to document them. It was the beginning of a nearly two-decade quest to prove the young men’s innocence. When the resultant film, Paradise Lost, aired on HBO in 1996, it kicked off an international outcry at the clear injustice on display. The pair traveled to Arkansas to film the trials of the so-called West Memphis Three. They might have been victims of the system, had their case not caught the attention of documentary filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky. Three teenage boys were put on trial for the crime. It’s hard to believe that a situation could get any worse from there, but it did. They were naked and hogtied, and had possibly been sexually mutilated before being murdered. In 1993, the bodies of three eight-year-old boys were discovered in a creek in West Memphis, Arkansas.
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