chaos-rampant There are some pretty eyeopening realizations raised by this case of the Memphis Three but for me these are poignantly tucked away in the first film. That one really was a searing depiction of ignorance and delusion worthy of Herzog, in large part because it was unfolding 'now' in some backwoods court that was deciding the lives of kids.This has an altogether different aim. It presses a case that had by then garnered wide traction, attempts some investigative journalism about who really did it and offers a summation of a fight that was justly won, however late for these people. It was the third film at this point, everyone by now looks more accustomed to the presence of the camera, more self-conscious about us being there to see. It has closure and a moral.So it doesn't feel like we are catching ignorance unawares and seeing it as it mangles lives. I see instead an article about how terrible it is. I'm glad that it documents what it does of course, dismayed at the redneck judge who is now in the state senate, but that's it.

tomgillespie2002 And so, after 18 years, the story of the West Memphis Three finally reaches its conclusion. As does Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky's epic documentary trilogy. These films, as Echols confesses, were so important to their lives that without them, the judicial system would have forgotten about them and left them to rot for the rest of their lives (and until Echols' death by lethal injection). Purgatory picks the case up ten years after the second entry, Revelations, to find the case in a never-ending loop of denied appeals by original Judge David Burnett. With more evidence surfacing, the case is taken to the Arkansas Supreme Court, to argue that enough has been unearthed to warrant a new trial for Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley.After spending way too much time going over what occurred in the first two documentaries (about 45 minutes - which is a massive drag if you've just watched them back-to-back), we finally get to new ground as new interviewees give statements and leading experts in their respective fields give lectures uncovering new revelations about misinterpretations and misconduct given by the original trial 'experts'. Much of the trial focused on these murders being the work of ritualistic sacrifice due to the sexual mutilations of the victims and scratches left on their persons. It turns out that these are clearly the work of animals, most probably turtles (the area where the bodies were found is nicknamed 'Turtle Hill'). It reveals poor research by the original lawyers working for the defendants, and general ineptitude by basically everyone involved back in 1993/94.Purgatory commits the same sin as Revelations, as suspicion moves from a noticeably more subdued John Mark Byers - who is now a supporter of the West Memphis Three and pen-pal to Echols - to Terry Hobbs, stepfather of Stevie Branch. Although, accusations don't come from character alone, but instead stem from a hair found within the knot of the shoelace with which the boys were hog-tied with and some alarming inconsistencies in Hobbs' story. But (ironically), this is something for the court to pursue and not documentary film-makers. The ending, which sees the West Memphis Three released from prison but not with their innocence intact, comes out of nowhere, as filming had already wrapped when the court called the plea appeal. For a more satisfying closure to the story, I would recommend West of Memphis (2012), which gives a more detailed account of their release, and also a more focused and detailed investigation of Hobbs. Still, it's a relief to finally watch these three walk free, even though it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

R F Brown It's been 16 years and two sequels since I saw the first Paradise Lost documentary at the Film Forum in New York City. I'm glad the wrongfully accused are set free but I still feel the truth rots a in dark, incarcerated place. I remember that the first documentary, a compelling story of wrong compounded by wrong, was also a frustratingly unthorough piece of journalism. The synopsis is that in 1993 three eight year old boys were murdered and thrown in a ditch in West Memphis, Arkansas. Three teenage boys, to be nicknamed the West Memphis 3, were convicted of the murders under highly questionable investigatory and judicial procedures. The first film fell well short for me in providing a sufficient account of the prosecution's so called case. A year after seeing the first PL the friend I went to see it with called me up and said, "I heard those documentary guys made it all up to make the teenagers look good. When you hear the whole story they are totally guilty." Really? What's your source? None, really. Is there a whole story? I have always been convinced that the teenagers were railroaded. But after years of sequels, cult-like public outrage, websites, Eddie Vedder and Johnny Depp I still have no idea what happened back in 1993. If the WM3 were not murdering cub scouts that night in 1993, where were they? None of these films have ever discussed an alibi. If a documentary is presenting itself as the balanced account of its subject matter and one side of the argument is being left out, there must be a reason. I can't speculate the reason because facts in this case have always been overshadowed by emotions, self-righteousness on behalf of the WM3 supporters, stubborn obfuscation by law enforcement, and repeated attempts by the filmmakers to offer alternative accusations that frankly are as shoddy and irresponsible as the lousy case against the teenagers. There is another feature documentary ,West Of Memphis, in circulation as well as many TV magazine pieces which may provide more information. I'd like to know if there is more to know about what happened the night those young boys were murdered, and I'd like to know more about what the police actually had on the WM3. In Purgatory the defense has gone to all the trouble of pulling together world renown criminal profilers and DNA experts. Yet the new documentary doesn't reveal one thing we didn't already know. These films succeeded in calling attention to injustice perpetrated on the accused and the fact that the real killer will never be brought to justice. The Arkansas court system created an outcome in which the case will never be reopened. The whole story is fascinating and sad, but these movies aren't very good either.

Greg Back in 1996, filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky set out to make a documentary for HBO on the West Memphis 3 – three teenage kids that were accessed of murdering three 8-year-old boys and sentenced to life imprisonment with one of the teenagers been given the death penalty.The documentary focused on the questionable evidence and lack of thorough police investigative work that lead to their incarceration and hit such chords with the American public that soon celebrities such as Johnny Depp were championing the cause in an attempt to get the three boys a new trial.Four years later, Berlinger and Sinofsky followed-up their story with Paradise Lost: Revelations which was a more biased account of the teenager's innocence and used new information and footage to help promote their cause.Fifteen years later, Berlinger and Sinofsky finish the trilogy with Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory that takes one final look at the teenagers that have grown into 30-year-old adults in prison for a crime that lacked the forensic evidence to convict if put on trial today.Paradise Lost 3 opens in 1994 and we get the hard-to-watch actual crime scene footage of the three naked 8-year-old boys who were left hogtied with shoelaces in a small wooded area known as Robin Hood Hills.With pressure from the media and the increasing tension amongst residents of the town, authorities soon charged teenagers Jason Baldwin, Jessie Miskelly and Damien Echols with murder and sentenced two of them (Baldwin, Miskelly) to life in prison without parole and Echols with the death penalty. The case was built upon their association with each other and loose allegations that the three were part of a satanic cult thanks to their preferred dark clothing and various graffiti and doodles of skeletons that were part of the group dynamic.Although not as engrossing as 1996's Paradise Lost, Purgatory again presents its case of innocence by interviewing or taping experts in their fields discuss the case and with a 2007 re-examining of the evidence by authoritative members of their fields (DNA, forensics etc). Scattered interviews from 1994 through 2010 help assert that justice may not have been done and that stubborn individuals who had involvement in the case provided the judicial roadblocks to impede any progress.Paradise Lost 3 spends a bit more time in an assumption of another potential murderer of the three boys and they are fueled by celebrities Johnny Depp, Eddie Vedder and even a member of the Dixie Chicks in their attempts to have new evidence presented and justice served.Paradise Lost 3 wrapped filming in August 2011 – three days later, the Memphis 3 were released from prison on a lesser charge that does not clear their innocence. Berlinger and Sinofsky informed the sold out crowd at the Toronto International Film Festival that we will be the first and the last to see this theatrical version as a new ending has since transpired (which drew a loud applause from the agreeing audience).One of the real tragedies of the now trilogy of Paradise Lost films is watching three teenage boys age while in prison. They have missed out on an entire life's worth of experiences (one did get married while incarcerated to a female fan) and we can only hope that a follow-up film 10 years from now shows us how the three were able to assimilate back into society and become everything that they should and could have been had they not been wrongly accused.www.killerreviews.com