Did the world need another film about the West Memphis Three? You could argue no. But if that film is West of Memphis, you'd be wrong.
Over the years, the West Memphis Three attracted a number of celebrities who used their fame and resources to raise awareness about the case. Among that group were Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, the power couple behind The Lord of the Rings film series. This documentary, released last year, comes from them.
West of Memphis does right by its subject matter, but is also a very clever bit of filmmaking. It assumes (and rightly, I think) that a significant portion of its audience will already be aware of the West Memphis Three case, and will have already seen one or more of the Paradise Lost films. It does summarize the case for anyone who might be new to the story, but it does not try to pretend that it's the first documentary to cover the subject. So, after spending about 30 minutes catching everyone up on the main elements of the case (in some instances with very unsettling and shocking photos), it moves on to another agenda.
This documentary is primarily a chronicle of the efforts to exonerate the West Memphis Three and produce another credible suspect. The most notorious of the Three, if you will, married while in prison, and his wife worked tirelessly with Jackson and Walsh combing through the original case, looking for holes. Of course, the Paradise Lost documentaries have already demonstrated that it was positively riddled with such holes, but West of Memphis goes farther than just presenting alternative scenarios. It goes to the next step, showing the hunt for experts -- and many of them -- to verify these alternatives.
And then the film presents a damning case against another suspect: Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of one of the murdered boys. It's an accusation that isn't made lightly. Indeed, West of Memphis begins its search for an alternative suspect by pointing out that the second Paradise Lost documentary, when it presented an alternate suspect, did so with no more evidence or rationality than the original case against the West Memphis Three themselves. Here, the case is laid out rationally and compellingly. By the end of the film, there can be little doubt as to the true perpetrator of these murders.
Which makes the end of the film even more maddening. Last year, resulting from the efforts of the group behind this documentary, the West Memphis Three were granted a new trial. But understandably nervous about again confronting a justice system that had imprisoned them for two decades, the Three were persuaded by their lawyers to forego the trial and instead enter a very rare "Alford plea." In essence, this irrational legal construct allowed them to go free and publicly maintain their innocence... provided they still pleaded guilty in court, essentially forfeiting their right to sue the justice system for redress of their wrongful incarceration.
The film documents this ambiguous conclusion to the case, and yet conspicuously avoids its most unsettling implication. The Arkansas state justice system has their guilty plea. This case is closed for them. But the film has set forth nearly incontrovertible proof of the real culprit's identity -- who will clearly not be prosecuted. The murderer of three young boys, who has escaped justice for two decades, will continue to go free.
I can only hope that someday, there is a fifth documentary covering this case... specifically, depicting the capture and trial of Terry Hobbs. But until that day, West of Memphis stands as the best film of the four on the subject. It will outrage and shock you. It will make you think. I give it an A-. It becomes a late entry on my "Best of 2012" list, sliding into the #10 slot.
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