Amanda Knox


2016 true crime documentary

Rating: 14/20

Plot: Man, America sure does like when pretty white girls commit crimes.

This documentary was also recommended by Cory.

Essentially, this is an extended episode of a TV newsmagazine detailing a case that captured everybody's attention a decade ago. I didn't know much about it, really just the name, but even though I'm not a fan of those true-crime TV documentary expose shows, this story was gripping. I guess the appeal of pretty white girls committing crimes is too alluring even for me.

Amanda Knox gets her name in the title, but for me, this is less about her and more about the investigators and the media. The investigators botch this thing in epic fashion, influenced by outside pressures to quickly make arrests and put Italians' minds at ease. The news media, believe it or not, turns this into a complete circus. They, more than Amanda herself, really drive this story. Don't get me wrong--Knox is an intriguing figure. She's impossible to read, something that probably didn't help her much as this whole thing unfolded. And although it's impossible to know how one is supposed to act in a situation like this, it just didn't seem like her responses to some of these twists and turns made complete sense.

This documentary does a good job of telling the story and is engrossing from beginning to end.

2 comments:

cory said...

Amanda Knox is a bit of a cipher, and it is hard to know whether she was that way before Italy, or if she is a result. The downside is that she is a less sympathetic character, but that is not really the point, here. Like a good little progressive, I get very offended by injustice, and this film made me more and more angry at the Italian legal system and the incompetent villains responsible for prosecuting an innocent women...at least we are persuaded that she is innocent. This works as a mystery, a documentary, an explanation of something I was only vaguely aware of, and a way to get me riled up. A 17.

Shane said...

I almost blame the media more than anybody else here. Of course, I'm very anti-media these days. All that fake news and stuff. . .