![]() ![]() That was an odd film to watch at the time as the three men were finally set free mere weeks before the film festival following bizarre guilty pleas (while maintaining innocence), but the movie was completed too late to mention it. Never will be - served in the case of the West Memphis Three.This time last year TIFF held the world premiere of Paradise Lost 3, the latest chapter of the ongoing documentary series about the West Memphis Three, a group of teenagers ( Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley) who in 1993 were wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced to either life in prison or death sentences. Instead, she builds a compelling and gripping argument why justice was not - and However, Berg does not exploit what happened to Stevie Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers. Berg does not shy away from the brutality of the murders (a scene of a mother in extreme distress and crime scene photographs of the The documentary is an extremely tough and upsetting watch. The end result, West Of Memphis, is a devastating examination of a judicial culture where innocence does not seem to matter. Society, fail to do all in our power to discover the truth." "A combination of poverty, corruption, political ambition and religious bigotry had collided in this case to create a horrific illustration of how wrong things can go for everyone when we, as a While the real killer of three eight year old boys remained free," she explains. "Rarely had IĬome across a failure of justice with such profound consequences - three young men falselyĬonvicted of crimes for which they were still imprisoned six families lives forever destroyed Poise, and love for each other I knew I wanted to make this film."īerg spent over two years conducting research and chasing leads. "After I met Lorri and Damien in person, and experienced first-hand their strength of character, "We spoke for hours I heard about the promising developments and outrageousĭisappointments that they had lived through, day after day, and year after year," Berg recalls. Making of the film - she wanted to give him the chance to tell his story. Berg made sure that Echols was integral to the They felt that she could handle both the sensitivities and the complexity of the case.īerg did not commit to the documentary project until she had met Damien Echols and his wife, Lorri Davis. After watching her film, Deliver Us From Evil (about sex abuseĬases in the Roman Catholic Church), they approached director Amy Berg. Walsh and Jackson decided that a documentary was needed to present their position and raise awareness about the West Memphis Three. Science? And then they realised what they had left in their arsonal - the ability to galvanise public opinion. What could they do? What stronger weapon was there to prove Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley’s innocence than hard Incredibly, the judge dismissed the evidence. In 2006, Walsh and Jackson focused on DNA evidence to support ![]() Echols was 18 when he was convicted and, as a result, had been given the death penalty and was on death row. ![]() They believed that the convictions were a devastating miscarriage of justice and feltĬompelled to use their resources to help free the West Memphis Three. The story would also come to the attention of another pair of filmmakers - Fran Walsh and Peter Jackson. It immediately drew the attention of the media. Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky (who also directed Brother's Keeper) made three films about the murders - the Paradise Lost trilogy. ![]() The case of the West Memphis Three was controversial from the start. Under significant pressure to solve the crime and in the midst of satanic panic hysteria, three local teenagers - Damien Echols, his friend Jason Baldwin, and Jesse Misskelley - were arrested,Ĭharged and then convicted of the brutal murders. On 6 May, 1993 the naked and mutilated bodies of three eight year old boys - Stevie Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers - were found in a watery ditch in West Memphis, Arkansas. ![]()
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