Cyntoia Brown: Die Geschichte einer begnadigten Mörderin

There isn't much that I can write that others haven't touched on. A young woman kills a man, not enough is made of looking at who or what the victim was, but then again a life was taken, and if you don't want it to look like you killed him just to rob him, don't take his stuff. It's hard to fully paint a victim, but then again nobody does. Her defense lawyers never once shy away from holding their hands up and saying "Yes, she murdered him." Neither does she. But there are interesting aspects. Should a 16 year old really be tried as an adult? Is the sentence too harsh? Does the fact she is a victim of foetal alcohol poisoning really a defense?

On the last question, the documentary actually gives an interesting insight; nature vs nurture. Other reviews state she had a crap childhood. Actually, not really. She was adopted out of a bad childhood early by a loving, church going, caring mother who sent her to school like any other child. However, Cyntoia was not interested in education, choosing drink, drugs, partying, and sex with a much older boyfriend, running away briefly at 12 after being kicked out of school and scared what her mother would say. She went back to school but dropped out again, later confessing she thought she knew it all. These were all traits of her biological mother; drink, drugs, parties. A woman she appeared to have no contact or influence from prior to trial.

If you take nothing else from this, take the study of nature vs nurture as your foundation going into the documentary. It does make it more interesting.

Good documentary. Yes, I miss more details of the story here and there, but isn't that always the case in crime documentaries?

A must see for fans of crime .

While the story being told is interesting, the documentary feels very lackluster. The older footage is from an already made documentary and while it's a good outcome on the clemency hearing, the story just sort of ends. It would have been nice to see a follow up with Cyntoia. The interviews with the biological gma were unnecessary. The whole doc was underwhelming, no info you couldn't get from googling.

The documentary is initially interesting for about 15-20 minutes. However, it leaves too many questions and relies on the emotional heartstrings of the viewer. For example, what was the prosecutors side for the killing, robbery, and initial arrest? Why were any of the prosecutors counter arguments left out? A quick Google search shows that there was a lot more evidence (notes in jail, attacking medical staff, etc.) to be considered that was not even mentioned in the documentary.

I deeply sympathize with the case and believe that justice finally prevailed, but the documentary itself missed the mark for telling the a balanced story.

I never understand the "they had a bad life" defense. Anyone who gets involved with prostitution, hard drugs, pimps, crime, and murder obviously had a bad life. Most criminals have had bad lives. Should that be a defense of their crimes? Absolutely not. If we are blaming their life of abuse then hardly anyone should ever be prosecuted.

Now, the actual sentence can be discussed if it is too harsh. In this case, I think it was. 20-30 years would be more appropriate, maybe less.

It was interesting. I just wish it was less the emotional stories from her and her family. You just don't judge a case on how screwed up your life was. Obviously, if you are getting beaten and then you kill the perpetrator, that is a legit defense.

Was it about the murder or was it about abuse? It felt more like the latter. There is next to no testimonials from the victim's family (literally like 10 seconds) so it is very one-sided. So since we never heard from the victim's family or rarely from the defense it's very difficult to really make a decision as to the time she deserved.

I still recommend it, but just be aware of the emotional appeal of the filmmaker trying to dictate how you should feel about it. I would have rated higher if it wasn't so manipulative.