14 replies to this topic

[Ally Needy]

Just watched this, an excellent end to the trilogy. Seems pretty obvious now that Terry Hobbs did it, although I said that about Mark Byers after Paradise Lost 2 came out. Having followed the case for over ten years, it was obviously good to see them out last year and I'm now looking forward to the Peter Jackson documentary. I also just found out the story is being made into a movie "The Devil's Knot" with Colin Firth as Ron Lax. Interesting.

[Ally Needy]

Here's a trailer for the Peter Jackson documentary :

[Dexter Green]

Is there a place I stream all three?

[Ally Needy]

Not sure. I have 1 and 2 on DVD if you want to see them. 3 was BT.

[hail of bullets]

Finally watched this on the weekend. Brilliant end to the series like you said.

It does point out how convincing/misleading documentaries can be though. Like you said, by the end of Revelations, we were all convinced that Byers was the killer. After Purgatory, we were all convinced that it was Terry Hobbs even though the evidence against him was just as circumstancial.

I remember reading back in August about the Alford plea when they were released and thinking it was the most retarted thing I'd ever heard. Watching it played out in the film just made it seem even more so.

I doubt the case will ever be solved, and the WM3 will have child murder on their criminal records forever. I hope I'm wrong and the private investigations (because the police consider the case closed) yield something concrete.

[JayX]

I just watched West of Memphis, the Peter Jackson produced one, should be easy enough to find online. I only ever got part of the way through the first Paradise Lost as something didn't sit right with me, but thought I'd give the new one a watch as beyond knowing they were freed I didn't know what had happened with the case in the meantime.

Even though this will be nothing new to those who've seen all 3, I'll spoiler stuff out so others can go in fresh and make up their own mind.

Spoiler

First reaction after it finished: a good film, and I learnt a lot that had happened in the last decade or so. But a fair bit didn't sit well with me, so did a bit Googling and now I'm more concerned this is very much a mouth piece for how one of the sides feels at this particular moment of time.

As with Hywel's post above, it seems to be just another cycle of finger pointing with the loosest of evidence against someone. The film even points out part of the way through that the accusations against Byers in the 2nd film now seemed incorrect and they were just as bad as the prejudice in the original trial because the 3 fit the bill due to being 'weird'. It seems to take no qualms in doing the same thing for the third time by pointing blame at Hobbs. They mention DNA belonging to Jacobi being at the scene too, but then don't bring this up again because he's working with them (and does seem genuinely distraught at times), but the link to Hobbs seems just as tenuous.

It's easy to skip over facts/feelings from the other side because it doesn't fit your viewpoint and hey, you've only got 2 1/2 hours to tell a long and complex story, but they really seemed to want to dig in the fact they think this guy did it. I would've preferred the point being 'look, we can put just as much circumstantial evidence against this guy that you did originally against the WM3, can you see how that's a bad thing?' but it doesn't. The problem with making a documentary when you're 10+ years deep into defending one group is that you're so in so incredibly deep you lose track of the big picture.

I can't honestly say I even think I know who committed the crime. I've always been hesitant to say I believe the WM3 weren't involved, but I always felt that further investigation should be done to try and conclusively prove one way or the other whether they were guilty. There's other suspects that don't get brought up which various articles talk about, or even the possibility that it's someone else completely. I don't know how likely it is one guy working alone could tie up three kids and throw them into the river, but that's not something that seems to be a concern to the filmmakers.

I think Hobbs is a piece of shit, but to be honest there's not many people involved in this tale who come off well. The entire community looks horrific from what we're shown. I hope this isn't over and people keep looking into the case with an open mind, so names can be cleared and hopefully the perpetrator(s) get brought to justice.

Worth a watch, but remember to question everything. I love documentaries but the loaded nature of who's making them are always too evident. 'The King of Kong' was sold as entertainment, a small guy versus the big guy, and it's easy to overlook that they weren't exactly truthful in their telling of the story. It becomes a bit more dangerous when you're dealing with crimes of such a horrific nature where you're being taken down a path told by someone with a very specific point of view. I honestly don't know how to feel about what I saw, but I do wish there was more independence to it's creation. The fact that Damien Echols is listed as a producer means you're not going to get anywhere close to an unbiased film.

[Ally Needy]

Thanks for the heads up, "finding" it now.

[JayX]

Please watch it and post, I'd like to hear your opinion. I might give the PL trilogy a shot from the beginning again now, it'd be interesting to see how they progress over the years.

[hail of bullets]

We watched it the other night. It's good but the glossy, Hollywood sheen and retrospective style meant it would never be as powerful as the PL trilogy which are far more gritty and obviously shot at the time of the events.

Also, I'm not entirely sure I see a point in West Of Memphis. The truly amazing thing about Paradise Lost is that it brought the horrendous injustice to the attention of the world, and ultimately helped free those three innocent men. What is WoM aiming to do exactly?

[JayX]

An opportunity for Jackson to make his money back I'd imagine!

[hail of bullets]

Yeah, good luck with that, troll king. We didn't pay a penny.

[JayX]

Talk like that is going to end us up in jail for 18 years.

[Ally Needy]

I thought it was good, and included some new stuff in it I wasn't aware of. I think the whole point of it is it's not just a TV documentary, but was (or is to be?) shown in cinemas across the world, which would possibly raise the profile of the case even higher, especially when I think it's now obvious Terry Hobbs did it. I think having your hair in the ligature of a knot used to tie the hands of a child is a bit more damning that Mark Byers being a bit of a nut job / attention seeker back in the days of Paradise Lost 1 + 2. Not to mention the 2 guys who were friends with Terry Hobbs' nephew being told it's the "Hobbs family secret", and passing lie detector test (not perfect I know, but you never know)... I thought it was a worthwhile watch anyway. And Damien Echols being producer was probably a way of him making a bit of money seeing as, you know, he's been in prison for 18 years. You're all just too cynical for my liking!

[JayX]

If it was one of the WM3's hairs in the knot, I'd agree... but when it's the shoelace belonging to a friend of the son of the suspect? They would've come into contact so many times it's insane, there's no way someone could be rightfully convicted based on that alone. Yes, I thought it was a worthwhile watch but it didn't need to be so heavy handed with the finger pointing against someone they really don't have a whole lot to go by, other than the aforementioned hair and some grinning teens who overheard someone who overheard someone else. Not that I don't think Hobbs is a suspect, the dude is garbage and I wouldn't put it past him to commit the crime.

Echols can't profit from the movie due to son of sam laws, officially anyway.

[Ally Needy]

I'm sure Hobbit man has probably slipped him a few envelopes full of cash from time to time.