Marina Zenovich delivers a powerful film with compelling characters and great pacing. She presents what happened without bias as it unfolded. Nothing is rushed. The Duke lacrosse team appears guilty. Mike Nifong appears to be a hero fighting for women everywhere. She presents the case in both Durham and nationally, rich vs. poor, white vs. black, outsider vs. local. She doesn't leave any opinions out. The five most central figures in this film weren't interviewed. That'd be a disaster for most directors, but Zenovich is undeterred. We hear from the lacrosse players' parents and they deliver the type of emotion that the players might not have. She gets us into Mike Nifong's head without Nifong saying a word.

While I am sure there are a few folks out there that would never be convinced, this installment of "30 for 30" should easily convince any reasonable viewer that the infamous Duke lacrosse team rape case was a farce. It does a very, very thorough job in presenting the story from start to finish and it's a darn shame that the reporters working on the case initially didn't show the same dedication to getting the story right. In hindsight, it's clearly a case where minds were made up long before all the facts were obtained...and if folks had just waited they would have seen that the rapes could not have occurred.What I appreciate about the film, in addition to its thoroughness, is how the story is presented. Through the first third of the show, the viewer is left scratching their head and thinking "I thought the guys DIDN'T commit the rape...maybe they really did"! In other words, it didn't jump to any conclusions but just showed what happened and let it all play out at it did in reality.Is there anything I didn't like? Well, a few of the individuals involved refused to be interviewed. The three exonerated lacrosse players refused--most likely to get this story behind them. The prosecutor refused--most likely because he is an evil man. And, the prison system would not allow the accuser to be interviewed because she's in prison for murder. I would have loved to have heard from these folks. Apart from this, the film was very well constructed and convincing...and makes for very compelling viewing. And, sadly, it's a case that tends to make folks assume that all too many real rape victims are 'just making it all up'.

The Twentieth Century saw three notorious rape cases in the United States that were tinged with racial controversy: the Massie Affair and the Scotsborough Boys - both from 1931; and the much later Tawana Brawley case. All three turned out to be grand hoaxes, and all caused enormous damage. Were we really expecting the Twenty-first Century to be any different? The 2006 Duke Lacrosse case saw three supposedly privileged young white men accused of the rape of a black stripper, who most shamefully were tried and convicted in the media before any of them set foot inside a courtroom. Director Marina Zenovich has done an exemplary job with this exhaustive documentary which was released a decade and a week after the gang rape that never happened.At the end of the day, the only person who ended up in gaol over this sordid affair was the District Attorney. We hear from him only in archive footage, ditto the accused, none of them wanting to take part, nor did any of the university faculty. The one curious desideratum is Kim Roberts, the other exotic dancer who was present when Crystal Mangum wasn't raped.One thing that sticks out is the apologetics for this clearly toxic woman, even from at least one of her victims. It's all down to her poor mental health - boo hoo. Guess that must be yet another example of the misogynistic rape culture in which we live. Not.Mangum wanted to appear in this documentary, but couldn't due to, uh hum, force majeure! In archive footage though she gives a lachrymosal performance: "The Duke Lacrosse case will never define who I am". Dead right - having stabbed her lover to death, for which she received a maximum eighteen year sentence, she is now forever defined as a convicted murderess.

I had the opportunity to see the World Premiere of Fantastic Lies at Austin's SXSW Film Festival last night. It was very well-received. It will premiere tonight – for the 10th anniversary - on ESPN's 30 for 30 series although it is a film that goes well beyond issues of sports. The documentary is a very even-handed attempt to examine the tragedy of the Duke Lacrosse rape case. The tragedy appears to be that 3 young men had their lives nearly ruined by a false allegation of a rape that never happened. The rape accusation was exploited by an ambitious prosecutor and various other forces looking to address existing – and very real concerns – about class and race in Durham, NC. The film explores the evidence and talks to many of those close to the case such as the parents of some of the accused lacrosse players. It presents a thorough examination of the ugly events and political shenanigans around them. While some questions remain unanswered – and perhaps are unanswerable – the film fits in well with so many other documentaries of innocent people accused of crimes they didn't commit. In that sense, it fits in with the many documentaries made about the West Memphis Three, Cameron Willingham, Michael Morton and so many other cases where ambitious prosecutors have gotten ahead of their evidence.The problem that bothered me is that it never really addressed the larger issues of the epidemic of campus sexual assault raised by the recent documentary, The Hunting Ground, and many other reports. This case seems to be an exceptional one when it comes to campus sexual assault where the politics led to a false accusation whereas the more common problem seems to be institutions that cover and protect sexual predators. It felt like that larger issue was left unaddressed. Still, the film is certainly recommended for those looking to understand a disturbing sequence of events at an elite university.