DEVIL'S KNOT

Basically…

Based on the true story of the West Memphis Three, Damian Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley are arrested for the murders of three young boys. But as more and more evidence is discovered it becomes clear they weren't involved in the crime, and their satanic interests make them easy scapegoats for the Bible belt police.

In other words…

If the police want a solution, they’ll invent one.

The main men and leading ladies…

Reese Witherspoon plays mum of murdered Steven excellently, capturing the emotions of a grieving, suspicious and intelligent sufferer. Alessandro Nivola is chilling as her husband, Terry, while Kevin Durand accurately depicts John Mark Buyers, the sinister dad of murdered Christopher. James Hamrick (Echols), strikes a challenging balance between the messed up teenager and the unfairly targeted victim he is, and manages to win the audience over despite his cold attitude. Colin Firth is just Colin Firth, again, and as ever, Dane DeHaan is perfect.

In the chair…

Specialising in cold, clinical thrillers this story about sacrifice and loss is almost an inevitable path for Atom Egoyan. He chooses not to focus on the detective aspect but instead the suffering and frustration of so many people involved in the tragedy.

So…?

There’s been four documentaries (Paradise Lost I, II III and West of Memphis) made about the deaths of the three school boys, the wrongful arrests of the three teenagers and the conspiracies surrounding the murders in 1993. There’s a lot to fit into one movie, but at just under two hours long this captures the hurt, confusion and desperation from all the victims involved. At the same time, though, including so much means it loses a cinematic feel and ends up more like a docudrama, basically taking us through a factual narrative. Egoyan’s choice to make it more about how different people dealt with the emotional challenges rather than the contradicting evidence that pointed towards two of the fathers, meant he missed an opportunity to turn the third act into a gripping court drama. Sticking so strictly to the facts and refusing to fabricate a cinematic ending, also frustratingly leaves us without a conclusion - as it is in real life. 

Worth the money?

I’m biased because I was hooked on each of the documentaries – but as one of the films of the year, don’t miss out.