Review #656: 'Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills' (1996)

With the recent release of the closing chapter to the trilogy, Paradise Lost: Purgatory (2011), and the Peter Jackson-funded West of Memphis (2012), it seemed a perfect time to re-visit the original HBO documentary that focused on the original trial of the accused now known as the West Memphis Three. Knowing now that they have only recently been released in 2011, the first thing that shocked me about the first film was realising it was made way back in 1996, and the trial was back in 1993. I was 8 in 1993, and I cannot imagine the torment that Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, Jr. went through, spending almost twenty years in prison for a crime they did not commit. Paradise Lost is still as utterly sickening as it was when I first viewed it over five years ago.

The question here is not if these three were innocent of this hideous crime - you can make your own mind up about that - but it is how can three teenage boys be sentenced to life in prison (and the death penalty for Echols) with not a shred of evidence against them? The irony is that these murders were believed to be the work of satanic sacrifice, but the West Memphis Three were condemned to a modern day witch-hunt by ignorant townsfolk terrified of them because they wore black and refused to blend in with the dungaree-wearing hicks in their dirt-poor neighbourhood. It seemed like everyone was against them, eager to lay the blame on something they simply did not understand. Judge David Burnett highlighted the need for evidence of a motive, so the answer was to get 'expert' testimony from a man with a mail-order PhD in the occult. When his lack of qualifications is highlighted by the attorney representing Echols, this is dismissed without a second thought.

Film-makers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky were granted unlimited access to the entire trial, so as a documentary, it is incredibly detailed. After the uproar this film caused, this access was quickly denied for the sequel, no doubt they were terrified that more shameful misconduct would be unearthed. Interviewers are given by the parents of the accused and of the three murdered boys (Christopher Byers, Michael Moore and Stevie Branch), and their emotion is laid out raw. Special attention is given to John Mark Byers, stepfather to Christopher, who handed the film-makers a hunting knife stained with blood as a present, which was quickly handed over to the authorities. Byers is a strange and often terrifying character, pumping bullets into a target and stating his wishes that he could do the same to the three boys on trial. It is easy to find yourself thinking that he must be the real killer, but as the trilogy of films progress, I learned that appearances can be deceiving, and that I was guilty of the exact same thing that led to the imprisonment of the West Memphis Three.

This is powerful stuff, provoking more emotion than probably any other film I have ever seen. The atmosphere is extremely gloomy, right from the get-go when we see crime scene footage of the young boys hardened corpses lying naked in the woods. It certainly doesn't pull its punches, and Metallica's magnificent soundtrack, the first time they have ever allowed their music to be used in film, only adds to this. But ultimately, it's the story itself that proves to be the most powerful aspect. They were guilty from the moment they came to court - these sullen kids with their black clothes and long hair. Individuality doesn't go down well in the Bible Belt, it would seem. As each heavily flawed accusation flies at Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley, you must simply watch and grit your teeth. This is a truly terrifying story and also one full of tragedy, both for the young boys who were murdered and for the three that were the fall guys swept up by an almost neo-Nazi institution.


Directed by: Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky
Starring: Damien Wayne Echols, Jason Baldwin, Jessie Misskelley, John Mark Byers
Country: USA

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie