Since it was released after the boys were released this story ultimately is able to tell the whole story from it's beginnings to it's end. As such, it is able to tell the entire story in a concise way.
The story is well known but I'll repeat it for reference. In May 1993 three boys went missing. The next day their naked corpses were found in a ditch bound with their own laces. People believed they had been mutilated, and after a month a teenager named Jessie Miskelley confessed, implicating two other boys (Jason Baldwin and Damian Echols). A year later he and his two friends were convicted; Jason and Jessie got life, while the alleged ringleader Damian was sentenced to death. Normally that would have been the end of the story, but as it turns out some film makers were filming the entire trial for a documentary about killer kids. Fortunately for the world, they noticed something deeply wrong and in 1996 the documentary Paradise Lost was released. The documentary brought the case to a wider audience and exposed some of the problems (Jessie was interrogated without a lawyer or a parent present despite being mentally handicapped, his "confessions" were utterly inconsistent with both common sense and the facts of the case, the "ritual murder" motive made absolutely no sense.) It wasn't a perfect documentary (Jessie did confess more than once and Damian did have some mental problems) but fortunately these omissions were not as damaging (the confessions were still wildly inconsistent even after Jessie sat through his own trial, there's compelling proof that the police manipulated Jessie into thinking he could get a lesser sentence by cooperating and the worst problems attributed to Damian were largely embellished by his probation officer or local rumor). In short, Damian had issues but he was NOT a killer and Jessie's confessions were utter garbage.
For a while it was an indy cause, with some celebrities supporting it....but in 2007 things took a remarkable turn. Peter Jackson paid to get DNA testing done, and the DNA implicated Terry Wayne Hobbs, the stepfather of one of the victims. Further investigation revealed that Hobbs alibi was extremely weak AND that he had a history of violence against women and children (including attempting to rape his neighbor for reporting his domestic abuse). Just as importantly, the defense was able to hire 7 extremely qualified and gifted experts, who challenged the state's medical examiner and exposed his incompetence. As the cracks grew, the state continued to dig in and tried to bury their mistake even as John Mark Byers and Pamela Hobbs (who once hated the three) started to support them.
Fortunately, in 2010 two things happened; firstly Judge Burnett (who had deliberately stonewalled all the previous attempts) got elected to state senate, allowing a more impartial judge to take a look. Secondly, the Arkansas Supreme Court allowed evidentiary hearings to be held for a new trial, rejecting the prosecutor's logic that defendants should be forbidden to do testing to prove their innocence. The next year the state of Arkansas, realizing that they would most likely loose a new trial, agreed to an alford plea (the boys pled guilty but were allowed to protest their innocence); despite their reluctance they agreed and are now free.
Ultimately, the documentary is a indictment of the power of fear, and the elements of society that we are ashamed to acknowledge. When I was watching it I commented that the lead investigator (Gary Gitchell) did not impress me (in fact the guy's pretty much every corrupt hillbilly stereotype known to man; all you have to do is add banjo music and you have one of those corrupt hillbilly cops from tv.) My father, who was watching it, agreed but asked "who hired detective Gitchell?" It's a fair point; it's easy to assume that Gitchell's a lone wolf and not a common practice of law enforcement but that's an avoidance of the truth (which is that people like Gitchell are only able to do damage because people either actively want officers like him or don't care.) It's like how with the Jon Burge scandal many officers prefer to ignore that a lot of the higher ups AGREED with Burge's habit of torturing people with electroshock (or in the case of Richard Devine looked the other way). Even the supporters of the boys fell into that trap for a while (from 1996 up until 2007, when DNA testing implicated Hobbs they suspected Byers largely due to his over the top and flamboyant behavior and unfairly harassed him. As Dennis Riordan points out this is no different than how the boys were treated by scared townspeople.) As such they were as embarrassed by the DNA results implicating Terry Hobbs as much as the non believers were
More than anything the film captures the heartbreak and loss that these families and the three wrongfully convicted felt. The story accurately captures the sadness and misery the surviving families endured, never letting the viewer forget that the boys had hopes and dreams. John Mark Byers and Pamela Hobbs, people who once hated the three men, are highly sympathetic. Byers is a man who lost his child and let his grief take him down a dark road; however he was ultimately able to admit that he was wrong when confronted with proof of their innocents (which is a mark of strength); even the Moore family (who still clings to the belief that the right men were convicted) are ultimately sympathetic. Todd Moore may be wrong in his hatred, but it comes from the grief of a man who lost his son. The three men are also tragic; Damian, for all his flaws, did not deserve to be thrown on death row, and shows that for all he's lost he's an articulate and intelligent (if somewhat arrogant) young man. Jessie Miskelley is the kind hearted but not terribly smart kid who ultimately got shanghaied by corrupt officials, and Jason is the ultimately normal boy who like Jessie fell prey to the corrupt. You will truly feel anger at John Fogelman (the prosecutor) Gary Gitchell (the corrupt officer who manipulated Jessie) and Judge Burnett (the judge who refused to call the prosecutors out on their unethical tactics) for the heartless cruelty they showed to both the three convicted and in a way to the families
In it's current state the case is in limbo; while Michael Hobbs (brother of Terry Hobbs) may know something he won't talk unless he's dragged before a grand jury and the state (who has the power to try and get the truth) refuses to do so for fear of admitting that they made a horrible mistake. As such the case is still in limbo; unlike others though it has a happy ending (or as happy as such a tragedy can have.) Ultimately the three innocents were released and Terry Hobbs (who is in all likelihood the true killer) is not having an easy time.
All in all should be watched by anyone who thinks we have a good system
The story is well known but I'll repeat it for reference. In May 1993 three boys went missing. The next day their naked corpses were found in a ditch bound with their own laces. People believed they had been mutilated, and after a month a teenager named Jessie Miskelley confessed, implicating two other boys (Jason Baldwin and Damian Echols). A year later he and his two friends were convicted; Jason and Jessie got life, while the alleged ringleader Damian was sentenced to death. Normally that would have been the end of the story, but as it turns out some film makers were filming the entire trial for a documentary about killer kids. Fortunately for the world, they noticed something deeply wrong and in 1996 the documentary Paradise Lost was released. The documentary brought the case to a wider audience and exposed some of the problems (Jessie was interrogated without a lawyer or a parent present despite being mentally handicapped, his "confessions" were utterly inconsistent with both common sense and the facts of the case, the "ritual murder" motive made absolutely no sense.) It wasn't a perfect documentary (Jessie did confess more than once and Damian did have some mental problems) but fortunately these omissions were not as damaging (the confessions were still wildly inconsistent even after Jessie sat through his own trial, there's compelling proof that the police manipulated Jessie into thinking he could get a lesser sentence by cooperating and the worst problems attributed to Damian were largely embellished by his probation officer or local rumor). In short, Damian had issues but he was NOT a killer and Jessie's confessions were utter garbage.
For a while it was an indy cause, with some celebrities supporting it....but in 2007 things took a remarkable turn. Peter Jackson paid to get DNA testing done, and the DNA implicated Terry Wayne Hobbs, the stepfather of one of the victims. Further investigation revealed that Hobbs alibi was extremely weak AND that he had a history of violence against women and children (including attempting to rape his neighbor for reporting his domestic abuse). Just as importantly, the defense was able to hire 7 extremely qualified and gifted experts, who challenged the state's medical examiner and exposed his incompetence. As the cracks grew, the state continued to dig in and tried to bury their mistake even as John Mark Byers and Pamela Hobbs (who once hated the three) started to support them.
Fortunately, in 2010 two things happened; firstly Judge Burnett (who had deliberately stonewalled all the previous attempts) got elected to state senate, allowing a more impartial judge to take a look. Secondly, the Arkansas Supreme Court allowed evidentiary hearings to be held for a new trial, rejecting the prosecutor's logic that defendants should be forbidden to do testing to prove their innocence. The next year the state of Arkansas, realizing that they would most likely loose a new trial, agreed to an alford plea (the boys pled guilty but were allowed to protest their innocence); despite their reluctance they agreed and are now free.
Ultimately, the documentary is a indictment of the power of fear, and the elements of society that we are ashamed to acknowledge. When I was watching it I commented that the lead investigator (Gary Gitchell) did not impress me (in fact the guy's pretty much every corrupt hillbilly stereotype known to man; all you have to do is add banjo music and you have one of those corrupt hillbilly cops from tv.) My father, who was watching it, agreed but asked "who hired detective Gitchell?" It's a fair point; it's easy to assume that Gitchell's a lone wolf and not a common practice of law enforcement but that's an avoidance of the truth (which is that people like Gitchell are only able to do damage because people either actively want officers like him or don't care.) It's like how with the Jon Burge scandal many officers prefer to ignore that a lot of the higher ups AGREED with Burge's habit of torturing people with electroshock (or in the case of Richard Devine looked the other way). Even the supporters of the boys fell into that trap for a while (from 1996 up until 2007, when DNA testing implicated Hobbs they suspected Byers largely due to his over the top and flamboyant behavior and unfairly harassed him. As Dennis Riordan points out this is no different than how the boys were treated by scared townspeople.) As such they were as embarrassed by the DNA results implicating Terry Hobbs as much as the non believers were
More than anything the film captures the heartbreak and loss that these families and the three wrongfully convicted felt. The story accurately captures the sadness and misery the surviving families endured, never letting the viewer forget that the boys had hopes and dreams. John Mark Byers and Pamela Hobbs, people who once hated the three men, are highly sympathetic. Byers is a man who lost his child and let his grief take him down a dark road; however he was ultimately able to admit that he was wrong when confronted with proof of their innocents (which is a mark of strength); even the Moore family (who still clings to the belief that the right men were convicted) are ultimately sympathetic. Todd Moore may be wrong in his hatred, but it comes from the grief of a man who lost his son. The three men are also tragic; Damian, for all his flaws, did not deserve to be thrown on death row, and shows that for all he's lost he's an articulate and intelligent (if somewhat arrogant) young man. Jessie Miskelley is the kind hearted but not terribly smart kid who ultimately got shanghaied by corrupt officials, and Jason is the ultimately normal boy who like Jessie fell prey to the corrupt. You will truly feel anger at John Fogelman (the prosecutor) Gary Gitchell (the corrupt officer who manipulated Jessie) and Judge Burnett (the judge who refused to call the prosecutors out on their unethical tactics) for the heartless cruelty they showed to both the three convicted and in a way to the families
In it's current state the case is in limbo; while Michael Hobbs (brother of Terry Hobbs) may know something he won't talk unless he's dragged before a grand jury and the state (who has the power to try and get the truth) refuses to do so for fear of admitting that they made a horrible mistake. As such the case is still in limbo; unlike others though it has a happy ending (or as happy as such a tragedy can have.) Ultimately the three innocents were released and Terry Hobbs (who is in all likelihood the true killer) is not having an easy time.
All in all should be watched by anyone who thinks we have a good system