Amanda Knox

I live in Italy and followed this case closely from the very beginning. I thought I knew the case well, but the movie revealed details and sequences of events that I didn't remember.

Now I am not at all surprised that on March 26, 2013, Italy's highest criminal court overturned the acquittal of Knox in the murder of her British roommate and ordered a new trial. A shame that Miss Knox will probably not be present in the courtroom, as she has returned to the States.

I'm glad that I watched the movie. It was well done. I would recommend it to anyone who followed the case as closely as I did. It just reconfirmed what I already believed by adding even more detail. That is, whatever her role in the murder, she was there. yep.

This movie promotes several gross distortions which CBS News Crimesider, for one, has identified. Example: in one scene Amanda knew too much prior to her interrogation, such as how her friend Amanda had died. CBS CrimeSider calls this one of the five biggest lies in the film. And yes, it was not in the trial either.

Why was Amanda's interrogation not recorded? Why did the prosecution's forensic team not testify in the trial about any crime scene cleanup? Why did the police, while testing, destroy the hard-drives of the computer which Amanda and Raffaele said they were using that night? Why are so many other facts misreported in newspapers and TV? The movie does not answer any of those questions truthfully, or even raise them. It is mysterious. It seems to be a commercial game. Or maybe they are just "giving Amanda and Raffaele a bad time." In this movie, a blonde Italian-American Hollywood woman acts out a screenplay to portray a red-haired Scottish-American honor student from Seattle as if she were a bratty, suspicious and brazen character. Someone has friends in low places.

Very interesting presentation causing one to shift in belief about innocence or guilt. Initially I thought it was a fluff piece giving Amanda Knox a pass but then it tells the other stories from the other players and a strong picture of guilt emerges. I won't tell you whose. After following the actual trial pretty closely I thought this film presented all sides with precision. I don't know how well it depicts the emotion of the real characters but it seems like everything was well researched. The only fault I can find is Hayden did not really manifest that icy cold stare and personality that has been testified to by numerous players. The guard in the prison and two accusers for example. She was called the "ice maiden" by a guard and anti-social. HP's portrayal is much more girl-next-door and is fairly one-dimensional.

Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy (2011)

** (out of 4)

American girl Amanda Knox (Hayden Panettiere) travels to Italy to study but soon she's accused of murdering her roommate with the assistance of her boyfriend and another guy. Soon Knox's sex life and strange behavior become the key evidence in the trial, which she's convicted of but many seem to think a crooked Prosecutor is to blame. I first heard of this case soon after the real events happened and I remember that for the next year or so every media group was on the side that pointed the finger of guilt at Amanda. I lost track of the case until 60 Minutes did another episode on it and to my shock now everyone was saying that the girl was innocent and being framed by a questionable Prosecutor. This made-for-TV drama from Lifetime doesn't try to pretend to be a documentary and instead it purely wants to show that Amanda is innocent but for some strange reason the movie is never able to do this. There's no doubt that the intent behind this movie is to say that the Italian courts are full of evil people wanting to harm this angel-faced girl from Seattle but I personally need a lot more than just this. Not once are we ever really given an explanation for why Knox is innocent other than the Italians are bad people. This doesn't work for a number of reasons but the biggest one, in terms of this film, is that the Italian members are constantly made to give evil looks to the camera and after a while this just becomes laughable and it's a rather cheap way to try and make them look evil. I kept expecting the director and screenwriter to dress them all in black, put a mask on them and put knives in their hands. Another thing that doesn't work in the picture is that we never really get to understand the case, what actually happened or what might have happened. Yes, there are several re-enactments but they're all handled so poorly that you can't help but feel letdown. As with most "true story" movies, this one here changes a few facts around and tells a few lies of its own so needless to say people shouldn't be watching this thing expecting a documentary. I think the film should have tried to make its case a lot better and all in all it really does feel rushed and all over the place as if the filmmakers weren't sure what they wanted to tell or try to tell. The performances aren't too bad with Panettiere doing a nice job as Knox. I thought she was a lot better when she started to crack from the pressure and she's also quite nice when it comes time to address the courts. Vincent Riotta steals the film as the Prosecutor and Paolo Romio is good in his bit of Amanda's boyfriend. Marcia Gay Harden plays Amanda's mother and she's a tad bit too over-the-top during a few scenes. The story of Amanda Knox is far from over and let's hope a better movie will come out whenever the real story gets solved.

The problem I have with this movie is that the story is entirely one sided, presenting only the view of the prosecutor's team.

And anyone over the age of 2 should know that there's always at least two sides to a story. It leaves me with the feeling that this was a rush job, more geared to capitalize on the immediate media frenzy to capture audience, than to present the truth; and that is very indefensible, as this film deals with a true story, not a fictional Hollywood script.

For the love of God, didn't the producers of this film know that the victim as well as the accused were/are real people, some fighting for their very lives? Shouldn't they at least have tried to get a rounded version of the story down? Instead, they simple took the story provided by a man (Mignini) that has been proved since to be more than a little bit unhinged.

It's a lot easier to get audience with story of sex, demonic rituals, violence and death, than it is with one of questionable law enforcement and plain lunatic characters.

For shame....

Art