Documentary Movie Reviews

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Paradise Lost: The Child Murders
at Robin Hood Hills (1996)

Rate: 7
Viewed: 1/08

ParadiseL
1/08: Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills is a very good example of propaganda documentary.

Most of the story is tediously told but in a slanted manner. Basically, the goal is to get the boys off for invented reasons: they wore black, dressed in goth style, and liked heavy metal music, that's all. One thing that bothers me is the way the true victims are brushed off. Instead, it's all about painting the three convicted boys as victims. Notice the depiction of the bearded religious father of a deceased child which serves an example of how the facts have been distorted.

Eventually, the whole case is a series of smokes and mirrors for the uninformed audience. That's dangerous thing to do because they aren't given full set of facts to judge what really happened. Only the jury, after it's properly selected, can do that. When the evidence was heard, it found the three boys guilty.

To make matters worse is the unethical methods applied by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky to turn the documentary into a one-sided story. Hence, it's propaganda. The message is twisted around to the point that I'm supposed to believe what the documentary says and that it's only this information I have to go on with about the case.

Now, I did a bit of research by looking up the internet and found a trove of released legal documents. It turns out Damien Echols is certifiably mentally ill, having been sent to psychiatric hospitals twice by his parents for being a threat to them. He has a history of attempting to kill his father, setting fires at school, assaulting classmates, believing he's possessed, drinking blood, and killing animals.

Damien knew a lot of things about the case only the police and anyone who was at the scene of the crime could've known. Jessie Misskelley confessed to the crime not only once but five times including once in the presence of his lawyer who advised him not to. All of these three boys were involved in satanic rituals. Despite the revealing information that was not included in the documentary, there's a group, which involves uneducated celebrities, that's earnest about freeing these convicted murderers from prison. They've poured millions of dollars into their defense to make it happen. It's both stupid and sad.

All in all, Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills is the best example of using film as a medium to block out all the facts that don't fit the false narrative.