Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by Billy Wonka (A) on June 29, 2014 at 14:09:09

This is Atom Egoyan's look at the deaths of three children in West Memphis Arkansas during the early 90's. The case drew a lot of national attention and years later the three convicted teens were released from prison since serious doubt had been brought forward by a private investigator (Colin Firth).

Firth was the town's PI and got involved with the proceedings because he did not believe in the death penalty. Reese Witherspoon played the mom of one of the victims who began to suspect the accused teens may not have been the ones who did it.

This film flirted with being a documentary but ending up being a highly dramatized re-telling of the crime and prosecution. There seemed to be a lot of dialed in performances but it does have some merit in exploring the other possibilities in the case that prosecution flatly ignored.



2.25 outta 5.

NF