The case of all cases for me, I keep returning back, every time I read a new book on the subject. Three 8 year old boys lose their lives, but are the correct killers on trial? A case of tragedy, that leaves many outstanding question marks! This is either a case for having the right people, with a high knowledge of forensic cleaning, or coerced statements, innocent young boys in prison sitting in prison, whilst thevtrue culprit/s sit in wait.

This "movie" is total bullshit. There is no truth, and no reliability. EVERY actor is terrible. Look at every shot, its full of mismatched items. They put the stupidest people you will ever encounter, and put them on the stage so YOU can feel brilliant. The crust of america.

Throughout the course of this documentary (and the one that was compiled afterwards) we watch interviews where individuals are led to give a particular answer, either by another person, by an attorney during a trial, in conversations with media representatives or simply addressing the filmmakers' camera. Answers are always ones, the subject believes, what the listener wants to hear. It's true of the grief and rage expressed by the victims' families as well as the indignation and fear by friends and family members of those accused. No one seems authentic; everything appears calculated.And that very phenomenon winds up convicting 3 young men of murder and in one instance to death row. We're not told what led investigators to interview a young man who winds up confessing—unconvincingly—to the crime and implicating two of his friends. But once investigators focus on these three young men, very few facts (some flimsy fiber evidence and a knife found in a pond in proximity to one of the accused which isn't even tied to the killings) stand in the way of their conviction.While the cameras are rolling before the convictions, we can see that the accused stand very little chance of being acquitted. We don't see the jury nor are they interviewed, but there is so much hysteria within the community of West Memphis about the case, that we assume the jury is ready to convict even before they're seated. While there is no glaring misrepresentation by the defense attorneys, their efforts to combat the stigma of the horrible nature of the crime and the oddness of the accused are all in vain.I became uncomfortable with the focus placed on one of the family members of the victims, John Mark Byers. His neediness to be the center of attention may only be a combination of his grief, his mental limitations and a life where he most likely was marginalized and his son's death gives him a stage to perform on. And that's very much what happens with the accused. The community condemns them in the same way the filmmaker's allow us to condemn John Mark Byers, who has enough in his background to raise a thousand red flags. And we're left to wonder why the authorities never pursue him. My first thought is that the filmmaker's aren't letting us see all of his story. At one point (in the second installment of the documentary), Byers blurts out that his wife was murdered, when in fact the coroner has ruled the cause of death "undetermined." But his "slip of the tongue" may only be that he's convinced his wife's death was due to the aftereffects of his child's murder, and he holds the 3 accused as if they not only are responsible for his son's death but also for his wife's through her grief (she apparently had a long history of drug abuse).Nevertheless, the film holds you. I watched parts I & II back to back. And while I was left wanting answers to very simple questions (what was the time between when the boys were missing and when their bodies were found, who located the bodies, were there any footprints, did they drown?…on and on), I did witness how people can be manipulated while at the same time feeling manipulated by these very powerful films.

This is one of the best documentaries that I have seen lately. The filmmakers stick to the facts and allow viewers to slowly form their own opinion of this disturbing case. Prejudice and ignorance surrounding the trial overshadow facts. It is a movie that stays with you and forces people to think critically about our fragile justice system. After I saw it I was never able to look at a court case without thinking how much my own views might be influenced by the hype and media around me. You can see how murderers can be set free and how innocent people can be locked up in jail. The justice system becomes so obviously fragile that I even had to consider whether or not I believe in having jury is fair, for it is putting the lives of people in the hands of those who are not truly experts to examine critically any evidence. A must see!