Originally a French production which premiered on Canal+ the original miniseries aired on BBC4 as part of it’s Storyville series. Netflix now has the original eight episodes from 2004 plus two from 2013 and three airing for the first time in 2018 bringing the case right up to date. It’s a fascinating and highly emotional case packed with twists and turns – including this theory involving an owl which is sort of weirdly plausible.
Team Foxcatcher (2016)
This documentary explores the truth story of wealthy sport enthusiast John Du Pont who created a facility to train wrestlers to compete in the Olympics, but who was also a paranoid egotist who went on to murder world champion wrestler Dave Shultz. The story of ‘team foxcatcher’ (named after Foxcatcher farm where he set up the facility) was told in the 2014 movie Foxcatcher starring Steve Carrell as Du Pont, Mark Ruffalo as Dave Shultz and Channing Tatum as Dave’s brother Mark. Mark doesn’t appear in this doc but Du Pont does, as does Dave, while his wife Nancy, who lived at the Foxcatcher facility with Dave, provides an entry point.
Footage of Du Pont is chilling and anecdotes from other wrestlers who lived there before (and in some cases after) Schultz’ 1996 murder provide a picture of a delusional obsessive and a window into a relationship gone wrong that ended in tragedy.
Holy Hell (2016)
William Allen presents invaluable footage from his time spent in the ‘Buddhafield’, a community centred around meditation that began in West Hollywood, California in the 1980s. Having left home when his mother refused to accept his homosexuality, Will joined his sister at an idyllic commune where people loved, laughed and shared everything. In a series of illuminating interviews from former members of the Buddhafield, the community is described as a Heaven on Earth; a place where charismatic leader Michel shared in their fun and offered them ‘the knowing’, an intense religious experience where they could experience God in a way that they had never encountered Him before.
Through the lens of the community’s videographer, Allen, disturbing revelations are gradually brought forth; accounts of Michel’s unusually childish attitude to sex, his conduct towards male members behind closed doors, his increasingly alarming obsession with physical perfection and the stage productions that were arranged to appease his maniacal ego. Holy Hell may begin with a somewhat cringeworthy voiceover from the soul-searching filmmaker, but the film ultimately provides one of the most accessible accounts of joining a cult: how easy it is to believe that you are not being brainwashed and how difficult it can be to leave the place you spent so many of your formative years, even when it is built on lies. This is one of the scariest examples of how cult leaders operate; the Buddhafield initially appears no different to a summer camp or group retreat, the likes of which you may have even experienced yourself, and so by the time the charismatic leader steps in he already has you. Hook, line and sinker.
Wild Wild Country (2018)
If you’re fascinated by cults, check out this six-part series exec produced by mumblecore darlings Mark and Jay Duplass. It tells the story of spirutual guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh who sets up a massive retreat in a small town in Oregon in the early 1980s, much to the unhappiness of the people who lived there.
As Rajneeshpuram (the name of the city where the Rajneeshees lived) grows and grows to become a self governing state, tensions increase with the locals who are initially suspicious of the Rajneeshee’s ways (free love and nudity went down badly). But rather than peacefully acquiescing, the Rajneeshees swelled in number, wealth and power until things eventually turn violent. It’s an extraordinary story of corruption and power struggles within the cult as well with the locals that has to be seen to be believed. Check out our Wild, Wild Country review.
Blackfish (2013)
Gabriela Cowperthwaite presents Blackfish, a documentary that thrusts the corporate giant SeaWorld into the spotlight for its capture of wild orcas, or ‘killer whales’, it’s inhumane treatment of these highly intelligent and emotional mammals and the money-spinning shows in which they are forced to perform. This film is particularly relevant in light of SeaWorld’s recent cessation of their killer whale breeding programme and the death of the sea park’s big star and the main focus of this documentary: Tilikum.
In 2010 veteran trainer Dawn Brancheau was attacked and killed by Tilikum, an orca at SeaWorld whose species has never been known to exhibit such violence in the wild. The film highlights how corporations are making victims of both wild creatures, now volatile in captivity, and their employees who are enticed by the glamour of the job, trained predominantly in performance and whose safety is given little regard by a company who cover up the dangerous capabilities of captive creatures. Guaranteed to turn you into a SeaWorld-hater in 1 hour and 23 minutes, this is a hugely moving documentary with some spectacular visuals from cinematographers Jonathan Ingalls and Christopher Towey. After a feature-length tale of tragedy it is wonderful to take in the majestic shots of orcas swimming in the wild, healthier and happier than any of the whales trapped in pools in Florida.
Making a Murderer (2015)
Never a finer documentary series about the miscarriage of justice made, Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos’ Making a Murderer took the world by storm when their 10-part Netflix original series presented the many flaws in the prosecution of Steven Avery. A mere 2 years after his exoneration for a rape he did not commit and for which he served 18 years in prison, Steven Avery of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin was back in police custody in 2007 for the murder of photographer Teresa Halbach who had visited his family auto salvage business shortly before her disappearance.
The documentary highlights the immediacy with which people in an intimate community are willing to place blame on an easy subject: a man with a civil case against the county for his wrongful imprisonment and a man from a family considered to be outsiders in the community, not only geographically but also socially and intellectually. Avery’s nephew Brendan Dassey also finds himself tragically entangled in the web of justice, having admitted to assisting Avery in the rape and murder of Halbach under highly pressured circumstances that confused and encouraged the then teen to present a testimony that the courts wanted to hear.
Who really killed Teresa Halbach? Whilst the documentary clearly champions the innocence of Avery and Dassey, it is up to each of us to decide what we believe. Was false evidence planted? Were Manitowoc just trying to lock up the ‘people’s favourite’? It remains to be seen. After the series’ hugely popular defence attorneys Dean Strang and Jerome Buting went on tour discussing the case, the world of social media has been assisting their cause by highlighting findings in the show’s evidence that had previously gone unnoticed. A second series came out in 2018 with star lawyer Kathleen Zellner now representing Avery. Read our interview with Making a Murderer director Laura Ricciardi.
13th (2016)
13th is a powerful documentary that highlights a key loophole in the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution that abolished slavery. With the former systems of slavery, convict leasing and then the oppressive laws under Jim Crow no longer in place, black American men in particular are finding themselves slaves under the latest guise: mass incarceration. Slavery is no longer legal “except as a punishment for crime” and with the depiction of the young black male as predatory and a crack-down on crack cocaine in poor black communities, director Ava DuVernay presents the latest means of black oppression.
The documentary’s closing audio featuring Donald Trump praising the “good old days” of violent justice pushes the message to the fore and really emphasises the ongoing racial prejudice in modern day America. With activists, academics and politicians weighing in on the subject in evocative and marginalised positions in DuVernay’s frame, a picture is created of the evolving justice system as archive footage and animated statistics chart the rise of African American inmates in United States prisons. The terrifyingly racist 1915 film The Birth Of A Nation resonated with treatment of black Americans today. Get ready for some alarming social truth.
Amanda Knox (2016)
“If I am guilty it means that I am the ultimate figure to fear because I’m not the obvious one, but on the other hand, if I’m innocent, it means that everyone is vulnerable, and that’s everyone’s nightmare”. Amanda Knox looks straight into the lens in this documentary and speaks frankly on the events of 2007 in Perugia, Italy, which led to her spending almost 4 years in prison for the murder of fellow exchange student and housemate Meredith Kercher. Rod Blackhurst and Brian McGinn’s documentary presents events through archive footage and interviews with those involved from all angles; Knox and her boyfriend at the time Raffaele Sollecito, Nick Pisa from the British press who was gunning for sensationalist articles, and lead prosecutor in her murder case Giuliano Mignini.
This film really encourages you to decide for yourself; did Amanda Knox kill Meredith Kercher? It tells us on the one hand of the DNA evidence that places imprisoned Rudy Guede at the scene of the crime but on the other of Knox’s initial confession and the suspicion of her brutal, sexually motivated attack on the more introverted Kercher. It documents the chain of events and presents the inconsistencies of the case from a relatively impartial stance and ultimately leaves the information in our hands. There is a strong emphasis on the implications of either truth in this documentary. Despite having been definitively acquitted in 2015, Amanda Knox could still be either innocent or guilty of the murder and either way, what has happened is pretty terrifying.
Evil Genius: The True Story of America’s Most Diabolical Bank Heist (2018)
This four-part Netflix original focuses on the bizarre case of the ‘pizza bomber’. In 2003 a pizza delivery man named Brian Wells entered a bank in Erie, Pennsylvania with a bomb strapped to his chest and attempted to rob the establishment. He was quickly apprehended by the police at which point he explained he had been kidnapped and forced to carry out the heist – the only way he’d be able to release the explosive device which was fastened around his neck his neck was to solve a series of clues in a kind of twisted easter egg hunt.
We won’t reveal what happens next but the documentary is in depth exploration of the event leading up to Wells’ robbery with an investigation around who the perpetrators might have been with a focus on whether Wells was or was not complicit in the heist. Much of the focus of the documentary is on a woman called Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong who is now in prison who provided new interviews for directors Barbara Schroeder and Trey Borzillieri. As ever the audience is left to decide exactly what really happened that day, in one of the weirdest and most shocking heist cases ever.
The Confession Tapes
There are two seasons available of this highly bingeable true crime show, with each episode delving into a different case of a murder (usually) convicted on the strength of a confession that the accused maintains is false or coerced. Each ep presents possible alternative explanations of what might have happened – some more convincing than others – and each subject maintains their innocence.
Whether you’re convinced in every single instance or not, it’s a frightening look at how police work can be flawed with pressure to push for a convinction getting in the way of logic, evidence and the truth.
This one might appeal to fans of true crime podcasts in particular – it’s comparable in format to some of the better anthology shows, There’s also hope that shining a light on some of these cases might actually effect change in the justice system.
Dirty John, The Dirty Truth (2019)
First there was the podcast, then there were the dramatisation starring Eric Bana and Connie Britton (which is available to watch on Netflix too) and now there’s also this documentary exploring the strange story of charismatic conman John Meehan. The story is fascinating and bizarre. Initially coming across as the perfect guy, Meehan convinced affluent business woman Debra Newell to marry him, alienating her daughters who were less than convinced. Things rapidly grow darker leading to a shocking conclusion – yes we’re being euphemistic! Spoilers!
The best thing about this doc is hearing, and seeing, the real people involved including Debra and her daughter Terra. It is a slightly furstrating watch however – clearly made for US TV (which would have included frequent ad breaks) it’s quite repetitve in the edit with unnecessary recaps coming thick and fast in a ‘I know! You just said that!’ kind of way. Still, if you’re fascinated by the case this adds another layer to delve into.
