Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills

Absolutely shocking and riveting from beginning to end. A brutal murder of three young boys leads to the wrongful conviction of three teens who were fingered for the crime because the police and townspeople found them "weird." Two of the teens are currently (2004) serving life sentences, and one is sitting on death row! This documentary brilliantly unfolds the story of the tragedy in West Memphis through interviews with the murdered boys' families, the accused and convicted teens, and footage of the court trials. The directors remain unbiased and let the audience decide for themselves "who did it," but there's no disputing that the police investigation was a travesty and that the West Memphis Three did not get fair trials--were found guilty before even taking the stand. Also check out the sequel: "Paradise Lost: Revelations." Be warned, though--both documentaries will make you want to scream with the injustice of it all, and rightfully concern you that despite an absence of any physical evidence linking three young men to a crime, and despite mounds of evidence indicating that the young men are innocent, the desire by influential individuals to convict won out over justice.

Powerful and thought provoking look at American justice, and how we treat those who are outsiders or 'different'.

When three very young boys are found brutally murdered, and mutilated the town of West Memphis demands retribution and closure, and so, after some fruitless weeks of police work, the suspects become three teen-age boys, who listened to heavy metal, and the oldest of whom dressed (somewhat) Goth and was interested in Wicca. A strong indictment of how, at least some of the time in our justice system 'guilty until proved innocent' is the rule.

That said, the film makes some serious miss-steps by not being clearer about some of the evidence it brings up, but never explores. For example, we're told early on by the filmmakers that all 3 boys had alibis for the night of the killing, yet we never hear about it again. Are their defense lawyers THAT bad, or were the alibis not solid? Two said they were home with their families, yet the families never mention being with them that night. Similarly, we are never told why the police picked up the first of the boys, a borderline mentally retarded kid, who clearly didn't know what was going on, for questioning. The implication was that the cops wanted an easy pliable target, but the issue is never explored either by the defense, or by the film-makers. In a 150 minute movie, there's no need for those kind of loose ends, leaving us to question whether we've seen a fair reporting of what went on, or if there really was more evidence against the kids than we're shown.

Still a powerful and important examination of how we often rush to judgment, socially and legally. Recent history has shown this is far from an isolated case - people are sent to prison, even death row on flimsy or incomplete evidence, and by playing on a juries fears far more often then we would all like to believe.

This film left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Not that it was gruesome -- it is, but I've done research involving reading coroner reports, so gruesome I can cope with. It was the unanswered questions and the unasked questions.

It seems so utterly implausible that a jury could have convicted any of the suspects that I wonder what the filmmakers did not show us. Specifically, I wonder about the fiber evidence, which was the only real physical evidence at all.

I could only rate this documentary a 7 out of 10 because of the unasked questions and the evidence we were not shown. I would like to have come away from watching Paradise Lost with a clearer understanding of what those jurors heard and saw that led them to their verdicts. Mind you, I don't think those boys did it -- I think that even fiber evidence could have been too flimsy to convict them. But I wish I had been left convinced.

If you have ever doubted that there are some serious injustices in the political system, you must see this film. This is a documentary about three teenagers who are accused of being murderers simply because they aren't conformists. They are accused of murdering three innocent children, despite there being no evidence, no witness testimonies, and not a single shred of a motive, reason, or cause. The three teenagers who are convicted are Jessie Misskelly, Jr. who is a mentally impaired young man, Jason Baldwin, who is a thin, shy, and slightly underweight kid, and Damien Wayne Echols, who is into metal music, wears black, and is part of the Wiccian religion. There are the three children who are murdered, Christopher Byers, Steve Branch, and Michael Moore. The opening sequences depict the findings of the bodies in the woods. Christopher Byers looked to have been beaten to death after his genitals were mutilated. Steve Branch and Michael Moore were suffocated. There is not a single drop of blood at the murder scene despite the fact that Christopher would have bled profusely if his genitals were cut off, and yet everyone seems to be extremely convinced, for some reason, that the murder of Christopher occurred in the woods. It's possible that Michael and Steven were drowned nearby, but there doesn't appear to be any sign of a struggle. The parents of these innocent victims seem hellbent on insuring that Jessie, Jason, and Damien did it, despite there being nothing to even suggest. There are rumors of them being seen planning the murders, but those don't have any real backing. Meanwhile people make up stories about Satan worshiping and that the murder of these three boys involved some sort of sacrificial ceremony. You have got to be kidding! Why on earth would people believe this stuff!!! The town of West Memphis Arkansas is blinded by their religious faith that they aren't seeing things in a reasonable and more realistic light. This film contains footage of absolutely everything. Once you see it, you can decide for yourself if they did it or not, but I don't see any connection. Sorry.

I remember watching this documentary when it appeared on HBO and being completly disgusted. This was a witch hunt. The trial of these boys was based more on their look and taste in music more than actual hard evidence. I grew up around this area and I know exactly what it's like to be a noncormist..you're automatically accused of being a satanist and associated with murders just because you look and think a certain way. Now I can't honestly sit here and say that these boys didn't do it..because I don't know..it's possible..and my heart tells me they didn't..but ya know i'd look like an ass if the evidence came up that they did. What disgusted me was the trial..and the assassination of the boys . There was no real concrete facts..just their lifestyle of music and fashion. The second one focused more on the father of the murdered children..all evidence pointed at him and away from the boys..just my opinion. This is a disturbing look at corrupted justice in the Bible belt.