Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer

The documentary `Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer' provides an interesting companion piece to `Monster,' the film that earned Charlize Theron the Academy Award for Best Actress of 2003. This is actually the second documentary British filmmaker Nick Broomfield has made about Aileen Wuornos, a prostitute who was executed in Florida in 2002 for the murders of seven of her johns during the late 1980's. His first film on the subject was made in 1992 during Aileen's initial trial. Now, ten years later, he is back recording Aileen's final days, trying to get her to reveal the unvarnished truth about what really happened all those years ago.

Broomfield does not pretend to be totally fair and unbiased in his presentation of the case. He is clearly sympathetic to Aileen and is not shy about voicing his own opposition to the death penalty. Nevertheless, the film he has made offers a meaningful glimpse into the mind of a killer, as well as the role that the legal system and the media play in sensational murder cases. Broomfield spends much of his time visiting Aileen's childhood home, interviewing people close to her, chronicling the events of the trial, and documenting Aileen's time in prison. But the most compelling scenes are those in which he interviews Aileen herself, prodding her to open up and reveal whether she committed the murders out of self-defense as she claims or whether she killed her victims to steal their money as the prosecution successfully argued. The main bone of contention between filmmaker and subject centers around the first killing. Through footage taken at her trial, Broomfield shows how, on the witness stand, Aileen wove a compelling and convincing tale of how that first murder came about. According to Aileen, her first victim was attacking and raping her, causing her to reach into her purse, grab her pistol and shoot him dead. Indeed, this is the way in which `Monster' portrays the scene as occurring. Yet, in 2002, Broomfield captures a much different account, as Aileen confesses point blank to the camera that the story was a bald-faced lie she came up with to engender sympathy for herself with the jury (it clearly didn't work). Later in the film, however, Aileen reverses the story again and implies that the first killing was indeed an act of self-defense.

`Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer' is a depressing and disturbing film on a number of levels. First, it places us face-to-face with the incomprehensible mindset of a cold-blooded murderer. Aileen comes across at times as warm and rational, honest about her guilt and repentant for the pain she's caused. At other times, she explodes in anger at friend and foe alike, cusses a blue streak, calls vile curses down on those she feels have wronged her, and blames everyone but herself for the fate that has befallen her. Second, the film makes us question whether one can ever really know if a person is telling the truth, even under oath. Third, it makes us wonder just how many people there are out there whose messed-up lives and upbringings can lead to this type of dangerous antisocial behavior. Fourth, Aileen's clear and intense paranoia even up to the day of her execution – she was convinced that the police knew all about her killings long before they brought her in and let her go on killing so that they could get rich off her story - clearly raises questions as to just how `sane' she really was when the state of Florida sent her to her death. Though, by the end, Broomfield is generally convinced that Aileen was a pathological liar and most likely guilty of first degree murder, he does not let all the other parties in the case off the hook that easily. He is quick to point out the shoddy defense she received in her original trial, as well as the way in which many of her closest friends and even some Florida law enforcement officials made money off her by selling her story to various media outlets. This film offers a stinging indictment of all the parties involved in this case.

One could wish for a little less personal involvement on the part of the filmmaker. Too often we feel that he has sacrificed his objectivity, that he isn't providing us with all the angles on the story we need to render a fair and reasonable judgment. For instance, he spends virtually no time interviewing the loved ones of the men Aileen slaughtered. Still, if you've seen `Monster,' `Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer' will provide further insight into that film's dark subject. It will also show you just how extraordinary a job Theron did in capturing the real woman at the story's core.

A sad documentary, but then again, you don't expect sunshine and rainbows when watching a film about a serial killer. It's a film about system failure. How a system hopelessly failed a child, an adolescent and then an adult and the devastating consequences of these failings. Can't help but think Aileen's life may have turned out slightly differently had better systems and support being in place from early life. Rest in peace to her seven victims and Aileen herself.

Hitch-hiker and prostitute, Aileen Wuronos, was convincted for committing the murders of seven men between 1989-1990, and executed for her crimes in 2002. The documentary 'Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial' killer is the second of Broomfield's documentaries about Aileen (the first was released in 1992) and explores her story including her childhood, her experiences as an adult living on the streets and selling her body, and attempts to piece together her truth about her crimes.

As other reviewers have pointed out, Broomfield doesn't attempt to hide his biases throughout the documentary, so if you're looking for an unbiased telling of Aileen's crimes, you won't find that here. Broomfield is clearly sympathetic towards Aileen and the two seem to strike up a friendship of sorts from their many interactions, which perhaps inhibits his ability to be objective. However, it doesn't diminish the impact of the documentary and in journalism there's no such thing as true objectivity anyway. I personally respect Broomfield for making his own opinions clear without forcing them upon the viewers.

It's no surprise that as an English man Broomfield is opposed to the death penalty (being English myself, I don't know anybody here that's NOT opposed to it), and that clearly plays a part in his sympathies towards Aileen. He doesn't even have to make a convincing argument against the legal justice system (particularly surrounding the death penalty), because as a viewer I can clearly see how corrupt and inadequate it was in this case. Aileen DID NOT receive fair representation and although her mental state amplified her delusions in her final days, she wasn't completely wrong in her accusations against law enforcement who were making money off her story. There have been endless movies, books and documentaries produced about Aileen's crimes and even those that were closest to her (her girlfriend, family and friends) were more concerned with profiting off her case than her well-being.

Although Broomfield doesn't delve too deeply into the issues facing the American legal system and the death penalty, those questions are clearly echoing throughout. Broomfield asks if it's moral or just to send a mentally ill person to death, and it's a fair question. As the documentary progresses, Aileen's mental state deteriorates and in her final interview with Broomfield she's clearly suffering from mental illness which she claims she did not receive adequate medical treatment for. Essentially, Broomfield forces the viewers to ask themselves whether what happens to Aileen is fair. She has been found guilty of her crimes and has confessed to those crimes, but she is still a human being who has fundamental human rights and whom the American legal justice system has basic responsibilities for - e.g. providing fair representation and medical care - two things we know Aileen did not receive. It's impossible to ignore these injustices in the 'justice' system and to question how much the system aligns up to what it claims to be.

In addition to posing questions about the American legal system, the documentary also provides insight into the criminal mind, and shows that serial killers are not always what we expect them to be. They're not always psychopathic, intelligent, sadistic monsters who get a thrill from hurting and killing others, such as Ted Bundy. In Aileen's case an argument can adequately made for the nurture side of the nature vs. nurture debate. Her horrific experiences from a young age (being abandoned by her birth mother, being sexually abused, being impregnated by a local paedophile at 14 and being forced to give the child up, being made homeless at age 14 and living in the woods at the end of her street and her endless experiences of violent/sexual abuse from being a prostitute) deeply impacted her and twisted her mindset. She felt she had suffered at the hands of the world and that her suffering entitled her to inflict that suffering upon others and take what she felt she deserved and had always been robbed of - money and security.

Although Broomfield spends time interviewing the friends and family of Aileen to uncover more about her childhood, the interviews he conducts with Aileen herself are by far the highlight of the documentary. It's in those moments that Broomfield is face-to-face with Aileen that we truly get to see how unstable she is - jumping from a seemingly ordinary, reasonable and polite person to erratic, angry, paranoid and rude. The possiblity that Aileen suffered from Borderline Personality Disorder is referenced once, but generally, her mental state is completely neglected which is shocking to me since throughout filming she was clearly suffering from severe mental illness.

Regardless of Aileen's mental state, what happened to her throughout her life or what led her to commit her crimes, the fact remains that she took the lives of seven men and that is a point that Broomfield continues to emphasise throughout. He continually prods Aileen as to whether she acted in self-defence or committed cold-blooded murder and each time Aileen's response is different. In fact, her story changes so often that it's impossible to know the truth and by the end of the documentary it's safe to label Aileen a pathological liar.

Overall, 'Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer' is an intriguing insight into Aileen Wuronos' life and crimes. It gives Aileen herself a voice, allowing her to tell her 'truth' and counteract the claims or words of others - the media and those closest to her - that have crafted their own tales about her. Ultimately, it's a tragic story of a murderer, who although many would agree deserved to die, did not receive a fair trial and was transformed into a money-making machine for many of the law enforcement officers connected to her case and even her own loved ones.

"Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer (2003)" is a documentary about the life of the notorious Florida serial killer, Aileen Wornous, who inspired the much lauded film "Monster". Not to be confused with "Aileen Wornous: The Selling of a Serial Killer (1992)", also by Nick Broomfield, this film provides background on Wornous who was selling sex for cigarettes as a 9 year old child in Michigan and follows her life from criminal trials to death row up to her execution (which was not shown). The film paints a portrait of a troubled woman who descends into paranoid schizophrenia as the end nears all the while maintaining the unexpectedly undaunted, matter-of-fact demeanor of one very much reconciled to her fate in spite of being trapped in a system with no recompense for abuse in childhood nor insanity in adulthood who well may have been failed by the criminal justice system as well. A worthwhile watch for those interested in the Wornous story, especially as a follow-up to "Monster". (B)

Nick Broomfield's second Aileen Wuernos doco (with Joan Churchill) does not walk the same hallways as the first, but it explores how the first, "The Selling of a Serial Killer", impacted the serial killer's mostly miserable life.

Wuernos's claim that the police department left her alone to kill so that they could ultimately sell the story rights to Hollywood is given a lot of play here. Broomfield doesn't take it up any further with the cops themselves (he did some of that in the original doc), but he does include fascinating footage of his own experience as a documentary "witness" to the dope smoking of "Dr. Legal", Aileen's first lawyer.

Aileen's final speech, almost directly to camera, is powerful and raw, much like the rest of this doco.

Some material feels whipped to death, but the revelations about the killer's childhood (at thirteen, after giving birth, she lived in the woods behind her house during a snowy winter) certainly help us to understand her better.

Worth seeing, but I feel that it would work better on the small screen.