The West Memphis Three criminal case about the murder of three young boys, is one of the most famous of modern times. The story about the three teenage boys who were charged with and convicted of the crimes, has evolved into a symbol of the precarious and often broken American justice system, largely assisted by a trio of HBO documentaries and, as recently as 2012, a documentary produced by Peter Jackson condemning the system for suppression of evidence, police incompetence, suspect coercion, jury misconduct, the list goes on. For the first time, the case is becoming the subject of a feature film Devil’s Knot, based on the book by Mara Leveritt and helmed by Canadian director Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter).
Reese Witherspoon leads the all star cast grieving mother of one of the murdered boys and Colin Firth as the private investigator driven to getting to the truth of the crime. The cast is rounded out by Dane DeHaan, Mireille Enos, Bruce Greenwood, Elias Koteas, Stephen Moyer and Amy Ryan, and the trailer hits the right notes that draw chills up your spine and recalls the tone of David Fincher’s excellent take on the unsolved Zodiac murders, but it will be interesting to see how balanced Egoyan’s presentation of the case is, and whether or not the documentaries will ultimately render this film redundant.
Devil’s Knot hits theatres in 2014.
