I have not seen any of the three HBO documentaries about these three men. I only had a vague notion that there was a horrible killing, and that three young men (all in their late teens) were found guilty of it with no real motive other than sadism and a love, love, love of Satan. I remembered the last part, as it was the only case I'm aware of that actually had some result from the satanism scares of the 70's when all the police were fearful of hidden cults that essentially didn't exist.
This movie starts by laying out the prosecution's case and the known facts about it. It sets up a pretty compelling argument for their guilt. Then, the film deconstructs each aspect by pulling in experts and some non-experts. Really, the non-experts confuse me the most. Why is Johnny Depp involved? Where did Henry Rollins come from? It seems odd to me that actors and musicians should come together to support three men convicted of killing three young boys.
It appears that a direct result of Peter Jackson getting involved (yes, the guy who directed the Lord of the Rings Trilogy) evidence was uncovered and witnesses recanted their testimony. The question is really... why? Why did the stars get involved before there was any of this evidence or questionable witnesses? I think I'm going to have to go back and watch the other three documentaries to understand what the hell happened.
The end result is the same, though. The evidence in favor of the three men's innocence is striking. The filmmakers then shift blame to the stepfather of one of the slain boys. The case they make against him is weaker than they portray, but the insinuation is completely self-evident.
It's hard to understand if you can trust the film altogether, though. The fact that it is co-produced by one of the convicted men kind of robs it of any semblance of objectivity. Mind you, the fact that the other producer, Peter Jackson, only got involved in order to help prove their innocence in the first place already starts this off on uneven footing.
The end result is that the film lays out their innocence pretty well, but I don't actually trust a damn thing that they say. They are likely innocent, but the intrusively one-sided nature of the overall portrayal is too much to overlook. Maybe it will all make more sense when I watch the other movies.
Directing was good
Production quality was excellent
Compelling nature of the story was high
It's done what a documentary should do - make you think about something enough to do your own research
4.0/5