As with any art form, there are classics of the form that every student of the subject should know. It doesn't necessarily need to be a favorite, but it should be known as a benchmark to which compare all other art forms. For documentaries, there are such films that define documentary filmmaking. The Paradise Lost trilogy are such films.True Crime is almost always a fascinating subject to document. There's the mindsets of the perpetrators, the lives of the victim, the chronicle of the trial, and the media reactions to include, which all contain their drama. Fictional Crime shows continually dominate the TV ratings. For the first film in the series, Paradise Lost, The Child Murders in the Robin Hood Hills (1996), filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky couldn't have asked for a more compelling story; it was serendipitous to the filmmakers for finding such a story arc. They went in to film a trial of an already interesting case, and what they ended up with was better than any Emmy-winning show.
But first, some background. The town of West Memphis, Arkansas, is, unfortunately as you would imagine, not very progressive or cosmopolitan. Religion pervades the small town, any thought or form of expression that is different is not accepted, and much of the town is encased in poverty that seems to be the ultimate fate for many of the residents. One afternoon, the mutilated and abused bodies of three seven-year-old boys were found in the woods by a creek. This would be a huge undertaking for any police investigation in any town, but the understaffed, inexperienced police of this small town were in over their heads. The collection of evidence was rife with errors and carelessness; the investigation was spotty at best.
