... AND JUSTICE FOR ALL : Berlinger & Sinofsky's 'Paradise Lost' (1996) [7/10]

Friday, 02 September 2005

W A R N I N G : C O N T A I N S S P O I L E R S

Although originally made for TV and running a hefty 2 1/2 hours, Paradise Lost has been extensively shown in cinemas in the near-decade since it was completed, over the years becoming one of the most acclaimed, famous and influential documentaries of recent times. "Influential" not so much on other films (although the superior Capturing the Friedmans is a fairly direct descendant), but on real-world events: whatever the failings of the work itself, directors Berlinger and Sinofsky have undoubtedly been instrumental in making the subject-matter - the apparent injustice suffered by a trio of then-teenagers known as the 'West Memphis Three', convicted for the horrifying murders of three young Arkansas children in 1993 - a major, ongoing and world-renowed cause celebre.

High-profile supporters of the 'WM3' cause include Henry Rollins, who released a benefit album and staged a globe-trotting tour to aid the campaign - chronicling his efforts chronicled in 2004's compulsively readable Broken Summers. Berlinger and Sinofsky returned to the material with 2000's Paradise Lost 2 - Revelations, and a third chapter is imminent, with the WM3's Jesse Miskelly and Jason Baldwin serving life sentences and Damien Echols awaiting fatal injection on Death Row.

It's therefore a little difficult to watch Paradise Lost entirely on its own terms - but as a viewing experience the film is compulsive and enthralling: when the credits (abruptly) roll, you probably won't believe you've been watching for anything like 150 minutes. This is a tribute to Berlinger and Sinofsky's sense of pacing - they both edited as well as directing, condensing what must have been a daunting amount of footage into something like conventional feature length.

Despite this, Paradise Lost doesn't really justify its duration: a further half hour or so could easily be trimmed, though there are some notable omissions which become more troubling in retrospect. The film hinges on the lack of evidence against the WM3 - who, it seems, were suspected, arrested and then convicted largely because of circumstancial factors, and because they were 'outsiders' with a fondness for goth-type clothing and heavy metal music such as Metallica* (the film-makers make little effort to hide their partisanship, as signalled by the use of the same group's more low-key tunes throughout).

There's very brief mention that all three were supposedly with their families at home when the killings took place - but at no point do we see any of them or their kin questioned about such alibis, which would seem like a rather crucial stage in the investigation and trial. It's painfully ironic that we don't have enough evidence to judge whether there's a lack of evidence - and thus the scale of the injustice or otherwise suffered by the WM3.

This isn't the most troubling aspect of Paradise Lost, however: the treatment of one of the bereaved fathers, John Mark Byers, is Berlinger and Sinofsky's most serious error of judgement. Byers is a decidedly unsympathetic oddball - ranting, weird-looking, of erratic behaviour, a gun-toting, God-fearing southerner straight out of a Yankee's direst paranoia. But to present him as the chief alternative suspect in the case - he comes under suspicion when a hunting-knife he gives to the film-makers as a Christmas present turns out to bear traces of blood - is dubious in the extreme: it's about as convincing as way one of the lads' 'defense' team desperately bring up the "bleeding black man" found in the ladies' toilet of a nearby fast-food on the night of the killings.

There are many possible explanations for Byers' bizarre antics, without fingering him as the killer of his own son: he admits that he's suffering from a brain tumour, and is on numerous medications. Above all else, he would be forgiven for being deranged by grief. But Paradise Lost isn't content to strongly imply the WM3's innocence: Berlinger and Sinofsky feel the need to transfer the guilt elsewhere and turn what's otherwise an urgent, absorbing expose of American 'justice' into a somewhat tasteless form of Whodunnit.

Neil Young
2nd September, 2005

PARADISE LOST - THE CHILD MURDERS AT ROBIN HOOD HILLS : [7/10] : USA 1996 (TV) : Joe BERLINGER & Bruce SINOFSKY : 150 mins
seen at the Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle-upon-Tyne (UK), 31st August 2005 - public show

*
AND JUSTICE FOR ALL - ...a shout of protest. This time the target's the buying off of justice and the corruption of the system. The chorus is a total damnation of the unfairness of it all. Lars pounds every part of his kit in a display of virtuosity that only some metal drummers can manage. This track may be around 9 minutes in length, but I guarantee you'll be transfixed for that amount of time. "Hammer of justice crushes you, overpower . . ." Indeed.

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