Very few things in this world are black and white
First thing I feel I should say is that I've only ever written one review here which wasn't at all positive and was for a movie that I felt was too overhyped. What made me write this second one is the exact opposite feeling - seeing the reviews and rating of this film made me feel that some injustice has been done to it and that urged me to voice my opinion.Generally, what impressed me the most about this documentary was surprisingly what made many people angry with it - and that is that the victim is missing. I honestly don't know (and don't really care) why that is so. I read somewhere that the family refused to take part but I have not verified this so I cannot say if that is the case but, as I said, I don't really think it matters. I think that the fact the victim and her family are missing from this movie actually does a lot for the message the documentary sends.
One reviewer here had said that it is as if the victim doesn't matter. Well, for me message of the movie, he is right, she doesn't matter. It could have been anyone and I think that in virtually every other case that would not have changed anything. Would it matter if they didn't stab a classmate but an old lady? Would that make it less of a crime? Would it matter if the victim was acting arrogant and didn't fit the stereotype of a kind, playful and innocent child - would that make the crime better? Or would you be angrier at the two girls if the victim appeared as super nice and maybe even forgiving? Would it be worse if they had stabbed a baby? I actually think that the answer to all those questions is simply no. And for that reason I believe that it doesn't really matter who the victim is, the focus here is elsewhere. And, be honest, don't you feel like you already know what the victim and their family would say? Come on, they are the victims, they're not going to be happy with what happened and they won't be at all pleased with anyone on the other side of this. You don't need to have been there to guess that.
I think that, whether by decision or circumstance, the fact that the victim's family is not in this picture adds so much value and gives the viewer the chance to see for themselves that life is almost never black and white. Unlike many of the reviewers whose thoughts I read, I did feel a lot of sympathy for the girls' families and for the girls themselves. It is very easy and even tempting to just say ohh they're evil and this can never happen to a nice guy like me and to my family and dismiss the whole thing as yet another bad deed by another bad person but life is never that easily explained. I think that the mistake a lot of people nowadays make is to think that people are either good or bad and that there is nothing in-between but I think that actually everything is in-between and this movie is the first documentary that I've watched that shows exactly how true that is.
For someone who is capable of seeing things from every side of the spectrum, this will be a very emotionally hard movie to watch and what felt to some like long and unnecessary scenes will feel like more time and information which will help make sense of everything that happened and the many and quite difficult to comprehend implications that follow. I felt that at least 90% of all the content was spot on and definitely not superfluous. Honestly, this movie left me with a lot to think about and my first thought when it ended was that the one thing I know for sure is that it was really well made. I was then shocked to see the incredibly low rating it has here...
Don't' make the mistake of falling for the "black-and-white" mentality. Life is so much more complicated. Remember that even people like Jeffrey Dahmer were once little kids full of love, hopes and dreams just like those that they took away from their victims and their families. I think this documentary does a really good job exemplifying this message.
score 9/10
xlix-298-152419 3 January 2021
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw6437485/35650
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