I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

I could make a documentary and use only evidence that makes Manson look innocent. Paradise Lost was made by foreigners with the intent of making the American justice system look bad. Then all of the closet satanists and atheists took up the cause. In one of the earlier documentaries, one of the supporters is actually on the phone telling others that they do not want everyone showing up at an appeal hearing dressed in all black. They also use a bunch of clowns with made up forensics as "proof" of their innocence.Which brings us to this trash. It is a propaganda rehash of the other documentaries. The rednecks railroaded some innocent teenagers. First, why would an investigator allow the murderer of 3 little boys to get away, just to convict 3 other morons. Second, if you research the real facts and not the made up nonsense of this POS, you will see that their was a lot more to the prosecution's case. These guys did it, were convicted, and in the end made a guilty plea that basically states they were not pleading guilty but agreed that the prosecution had enough evidence to convict them again.Everybody who was moved by this documentary would have been marching up and down the street in Germany in the 30's saluting Hitler. Propaganda is used because it works on the majority of gullible people. I particularly like the reviewer with the devil face and horns in his avatar, he must be unbiased and he supports these guys fully. You may think the devil worshiping thing is BS, but three redneck teenagers from West Memphis were playing devil worship games in 1993 and murdered three little boys in the process. Now they are free to roam the streets thanks to these documentary filmmakers.I read earlier that one of the murderers is a producer of this trash. So now he is making money off of his crimes. He also goes on the college circuit to proclaim his innocence for money. However, every time he is confronted by someone with the real facts, he runs off the stage in a tantrum.

I've been following this case ever since HBO aired the first 'Paradise Lost' film in 1996. I was 15 then, and at the age, I was outraged and angry at how the justice system was working in Arkansas. I couldn't believe that these people could convict three innocent young men with no evidence to life in prison, with one receiving the death penalty. Needless to say, over the years, i have researched and tried to help any way that I could to this case by sending emails and letters and really anything I could do in my power to help free the West Memphis 3. And fortunately, there were two more sequels done by the original team who made 'Paradise Lost', which shed new light on the convictions. However, now, director Amy Berg delivers 'West of Memphis' with the help of Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, which offers many new insights and interviews for the audience who have followed this case from the beginning, while letting newcomers in easily. It's one of the better documentaries ever made.I'm sure some of you might say, "why is this even being made?" Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky already made the three 'Paradise Lost' documentaries, which chronicled the three men's trials, prison sentence, and their ultimate release for prison 18 years later. You can rest easy to know that Berg pays homage and gives credit to the 'Paradise Lost' films almost immediately and does so throughout the 2 and a half hour documentary, and even goes further than the original filmmakers did.It starts out with the actual footage of the police officers finding the three murdered children, which this beginning acts more as a recount of why Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley, and Jason Baldwin are in prison. The year is 1994 in West Memphis, Arkansas, and we see a montage of dialogue and video of their first trial and their convictions, which ends with Echols smiling from the back of a police car as he's hauled away. For some people not familiar with the case, it would be easy to see why these boys were convicted.From here we fast forward 15 years later with millions of people around the world out to free these three innocent men who are still in prison. Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh (famous for 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy), heard about this case and immediately wanted to help. So in 2005, they called the right people and financially supported new DNA testing, new investigations into the trial, and even getting new hearings based on the evidence they were finding. Some of their researched turned up that while back in 1994 at their trial, it was said that satanic ritual killings were used on the three children, but that the evidence showed that their bodies were being eaten by animals as they laid in the water. They even did live tests to show that turtles were the particular animal that caused all of the scratches and bite marks on the children.The documentary also focuses on Echols' time in prison and how he met Lorri Davis, a woman who wrote to him in prison and eventually married and are still together to this day and living in New York. Lorri has worked on the case for a long time and was a big part of organizing the world wide awareness of the injustice of the West Memphis 3.There is also a very big chunk of the documentary devoted to Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of one of the victims, who we learn is the prime suspect in the murders and is still walking free today. Through Berg's documentary, she unravels some harsh and very shocking truths about Hobbs and how the West Memphis police never thought he could be a suspect. However, that's not the case as new testimony made from a tip line in 2012 suggests that Hobbs was the killer and that they had evidence.Well, we all know the story and how the state of Arkansas, in order to avoid the shame and humility and loss of millions of dollars, told the three men that they could go free if they pleaded guilty, which is called the Alford Plea. And we see some of the degenerate Arkansas politicians who were wanting to close this case with much quickness as to avoid any possible embarrassment and says that he still believes the three men are guilty because they pleaded guilty in order to get out of jail, which made the entire audience gasp and yell.Berg pulls at our heart strings for these three once young teenagers who are all now in their 40s and have spent 18 years in prison for crimes they did not commit. If you see one documentary this season, see 'West of Memphis'. It will stay with you forever.

I generally am a pretty liberal guy and do root or the underdog and downtrodden more than the average person. This film almost sucked me in to believing their slanted view of the innocence of the West Memphis Three. Almost. As I watched the film, I began to have more and more doubts of their innocence as the film progressed. I found the attitudes and body language of the WM3 to show their guilt during the original trial in 1993-94. I mean if you were tried under false pretenses, wouldn't you be a little upset and vengeful, especially after being let out 18 years later? I also found Lorri Davis rather odd and in love with Damien, which is basically what drove her to get them out of jail. Her on screen appearance was bizarre and disturbing. This film doesn't provide a broad scope of evidence and instead provides only what it needs to get it's point across. It's a fact that 4 out of the six parents still believe that the WM3 are guilty. If you really want a clear picture of what happened, check out this site.http://thewm3revelations.wordpress.com/2013/07/17/a-question-of-dna/ They stretch they make as naming Terry Hobbs as guilty is just that. Quite a stretch. Yes Terry seems like a rough guy and probably guilty of being a weirdo but the confessions of Misskelley are in now way coerced or being led by the police at any point.Basically of bunch of people got together and let out 3 murdering sociopaths. Watch the documentary, and do your research and I would imagine anyone with common sense would agree. Very interesting and worth the time to watch but ultimately a biased slanted film.

Reading the comments about this documentary I learnt that there had been other films on this subject as part of the decades of trying to overturn the original convictions; this was news to me but, in all honesty, the case itself was news to me as I had never heard of these murders or the wider story. Perhaps I am under a rock but I am not sure how well known this all is outside of the US. Anyways, the film opens in such a way that is a little hard to follow. The murders themselves are clearly presented but a lot of characters and history is delivered and at times I was not wholly sure when certain video clips were from and I felt that it put me off balance a little in terms of context of what was being said. This was a minor problem and gradually I got out of it as the bigger story was made clear.This moved forward well and the film patiently reveals one after another example of bad practice, straight-up deception or implication of misconduct all of which presents a terrible miscarriage of justice. It adds to this by exploring other paths and presenting new evidence in the film – statements, DNA etc, all of which seem to point very clearly to a man who was prone to erratic violence towards one of the boys who was killed. This is hard to watch because it seems so clear while these three sit behind bars. The film doesn't offer justice though – only freedom, and in a way this is both a hard end to the film but also a very apt one because it highlights yet another nonsense. I really didn't see much difference between the original coerced confession and the pleas of "guilty" which are obtained by dangling freedom in front of the three men; to me it sat very badly and it angered me to see the elected official saying this plea had saved the State money by preventing the three from suing. So, even in their freedom they are robbed of what they should have been entitled to – and this guy says it like it is a positive outcome.I didn't know anything about this story when I started the film but it did the job very well of giving me a complex background, getting me up to speed and then delivering a lot of information on the way to the conclusion. The conclusion is that justice wasn't done and continues not to be done even while those in charge talk about how this gives closure to the families etc. Really hard to watch the film without getting angry, and this is to the film's credit.