Lost Hills

Paradise Lost (Collector's Edition) (Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills / Paradise Lost 2: Revelations)

Description

From Emmy award-winning filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky comes for the first time in one collector s edition two of the most shocking documentaries of all time about a gruesome triple murder in West Memphis.

On May 6, 1993, the mutilated bodies of three 8-year-old boys were found in a shallow creek in West Memphis, Arkansas. A short time later police arrested three local teenagers, linking the boys' killings to a satanic ritual. One of the boys confessed. The intriguing court case was about to unfold as filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky ventured forth to make the Emmy-winning documentary Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills. They captured footage of not only courtroom proceedings but also interviews with the major players in trial--parents, suspects, lawyers. The documentary filmmakers, whose previous film, Brother's Keeper, is as intriguing a crime story you'll ever see, tells this story without re-creations or flashbacks. The film makes a clear argument that the court trial may not be about witchcraft but a witch hunt. As with any great drama, the faces and situations are etched upon the viewer; however, we are dealing with real lives and real crimes (told gruesomely and necessarily by police photographs and videotape), and the impact is far greater. And so is the maddening ambivalence of the trial. Like the O.J. Simpson fiasco, a verdict is reached but the truth is questioned. Did police make fatal errors the night of the crime? Do last-minute clues lead to justice? Who's lying on the stand? As with Roger and Me and Hoop Dreams, we have a provocative single incident that holds a mirror to many of society's problems. The results are just more horrifying. --Doug Thomas

Four years later, Directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky return to the scene of the crime with Paradise Lost 2: Revelations, the urgent follow-up to their harrowing 1996 documentary, Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills. That profoundly disturbing film chronicled the tragic and twisted case of three young men--Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley--who were convicted of the brutal 1993 murders of three second graders. Revelations, which, for those who missed the first film, efficiently recaps the case, and charts the trio's maddening appeals process (police browbeat a confession out of Misskelley, who has an IQ of 71, after 12 hours of questioning), as well as the efforts of a group of Internet advocates to "Free the West Memphis Three." Byers is back as well, and he is infinitely more terrifying than anything in Book of Shadows, Berlinger's Blair Witch sequel. We learn that Byers had all his teeth extracted in the years after the murders (human bite marks are among the new evidence introduced). We also learn that his wife has since died of undetermined causes. When Byers passes a suspect lie detector test, he exults, "I knew I was innocent." A further mystery is why both Paradise Lost films have not garnered the media attention or sparked the outrage that attended Errol Morris's The Thin Blue Line, which led to the release of an innocent man who was imprisoned for more than 10 years. Both films give new meaning to the concept of reasonable doubt. --Donald Liebenson

Reviews

Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-04-28
Summary: "Paradise Lost Collector's Edition"

Not a bad purchse. The video itself is pretty graphic. Some of the images stuck in my head like a sick nightmare. I can not wait to see if the org. verdict is changed. After watching the entire movie I had mixed feelings as to whether they three accused were guilty or not.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-04-21
Summary: "Paradise Lost"

It has been many years since I saw these documentaries on HBO, but the story haunts me to this day. I just read a news article today that Natalie Maines - singer of the Dixie Chicks - just won the law suit taken against her by Terry Hobbs. He was the stepfather of one of the boys murdered and was suing her for defamation. Anyway, reading the article brought it all back to me. This story will haunt you for years to come and I am not referring to the gruesome details of the crime. Not only do you feel helpless and lost and heartbroken for the little boys that lost their lives, but you feel helpless and ANGRY watching the travesty that resulted in 3 young men falsely (I believe) convicted of these brutal crimes. Watch the films. Formulate your own opinion. Powerful story.

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Rating: 3 / 5
Date: 2010-04-14
Summary: "Paradise Lost (Collector's Edition"

I was not overly impressed with this. I am not saying that anything was wrong with it just that it was not my cup of tea.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-02-24
Summary: "Paradise Lost - The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills"

Harrowing documentary first shown on HBO - tells the story of three teenage boys who are accused and later charged with the murder of three 8 year old boys.
This story has a twist though; did the accused get a fair trial?;how much weight can you put on the confession of a 16 year old intellectually challenged boy?
You be the judge..to follow up look at the website for the WM3 (West Memphis 3 as they are called now)

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-02-04
Summary: "UNBELIEVABLE BUT TRUE"

This doco is like watching a train wreck in slow motion under water and completely helpless. Heart breaking and terrifying all at once. If there is any justice in America, which I sadly doubt, then these young men will be set free and that monster will be put behind bars for life. You are about to witness one of the scariest real life psychos you have ever clapped eyes on, he would eat Hanabal Lecter alive for breakfast and pick his teeth with bones whilst trying to illicit sympathy from anyone daft enough to give it. He will stand one day before the Lord he claims is his king. Judgment day means no one gets away with anything. This monster will pay for what he did. One can only hope these young men get their day in court before a judge and jury that believe in justice and can see the truth. Amazing, but disturbing doco. Well worth 5 stars. Also, check out The Staircase.