A Third Trip to Paradise

I've written before about the documentary series Paradise Lost, whose two films cover the "West Memphis Three," three men convicted of the murder of three 8-year-old boys in the 1990s. (And, if you watch the films and/or do any reading on the case, you'll become convinced they were wrongfully convicted.) The series now continues with a third installment, Paradise Lost: Purgatory, which premiered on HBO this week.

This new documentary basically brings two main elements to the table to differentiate it from the prior two films: expanded coverage of the original case itself, and new evidence in the case that was formally publicized in 2007.

In that first area, examination of the original case, this documentary is easily the most unsettling of the three. After two films and some outside reading, I thought I'd seen most everything there was to see on the case. What I hadn't seen were crime scene photos. And I'm not sure I needed to. But this third film presents actual photos and video footage from the original crime scene, of the bound and mutilated victims. It's horrific. And though I'm not sure it was really necessary for the filmmakers to "go there," it does drive one important point home: though the focus of these documentaries has been around the innocence of the convicted three, the terrible crime itself was the first injustice here, and not to be forgotten.

The bulk of this third film brings viewers up to date on new DNA and forensic evidence, and new and more qualified experts who have interpreted both the new material and the original material of the case. It all stacks up in a powerful way. No longer is it just a matter of the three men being convicted on circumstantial evidence with no proof; now we see that there is compelling proof of their innocence.

The aggravating third act of the documentary then tracks the attempts of lawyers trying to present this new evidence to free the West Memphis Three. Orwellian blockages are thrown up in their paths, most significantly that every appeal in the case is heard by the same biased judge who presided over the original trials. A tragic mistake is compounded again and again.

It all culminates in an epilogue that had to be assembled by the documentary makers after they'd wrapped their originally intended film. Having finally made headway with the Arkansas Supreme Court, and with an appeal to schedule a new trial pending, the courts suddenly decided to instead accept "Alford plea" from the three men. This inexplicable nonsense within the justice system allows the three to maintain their innocence, but simultaneously requires them to plead guilty and agree to "time served." Basically, it forestalls the possible of a civil lawsuit against the state for wrongful imprisonment. It's an agreement the trio was willing to make, to avoid prolonging nearly two decades of incarceration through the process of another trial. (And with one of the three on death row, there was extra incentive not to roll the dice on a new trial.)

This may not be the last Paradise Lost film. It's definitely not the last documentary on the West Memphis Three, as filmmaker Peter Jackson is unveiling his own separate documentary on the subject in the near future. But it is another worthy (and enraging) entry in this compelling series. I'd rate it a B+.