Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1 Viewer)

[Stephen Lilley]

Over the course of the last week I've had the opportunity to check out both Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills and its sequel, Paradise Lost 2: Revelations, and I have to say I think they're both really fantastic. I had heard about them a long time ago, but never really thought they'd be too interesting to me. I was really taken aback by how captivated I was by the story of this court case and these three alleged murderers.

All that said, I don't know that I'm 100% convinced of their innocence. However, I'm definitely not 100% convinced of their guilt, and I definitely think that Mark Byers (for those who have seen the films) was involved in some capacity, as the film would have you believe.

My problem with watching these movies, however, and any documentary like these post-Fahrenheit 9/11 is that I'm constantly wondering if these events have been manipulated by the filmmakers in any way. Although, in the case of Mark Byers, I think it's pretty safe to say that the dude is crazy.

What are your thoughts on these movies?

 

[Bob Turnbull]

Remarkable films - both of them. Whether the boys are guilty or not, the desperation to pin it on them by all involved was sickening. Evidence ignored, assumptions made and Mark Byers comes across as potentially one of the most truly evil beings I've ever seen in film.


It's just about impossible to remove bias from documentaries. As soon as an edit is made, a choice has been made to give the audience a certain viewpoint on the story. Some of course more than others.

 

[Stephen Lilley]

In an effort to form an actual opinion on the case and not just "The documentary says they're innocent so FREE THE WEST MEMPHIS THREE!", I picked up and am tearing through Mara Leveritt's Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three, and even from the little I've read so far one thing is abundantly clear - the West Memphis police department screwed up, hard.

Three young boys are reported missing. While the missing persons reports are still coming in, a call comes in about a disoriented, bloody man entering a restaurant just two miles from the boys' homes and less than a mile from where the bodies are eventually found and barging into the women's restroom. He smears blood all over the walls, and leaves moments before the police arrive. The officer on the scene takes down the statement of someone who worked at the restaurant without ever going inside, and leaves.

To me, that sounds like it would have been worth investigating a bit. But what do I know.

 

[L. Anton Dencklau]

..

 

[Stephen Lilley]

Well no, I know that the Paradise Lost films came out well before Fahrenheit 9/11, it's just that up until the Michael Moore film I took documentaries as, well... definitely the truth. 9/11 made me take another look at all films like this, new and old.