Justice Is Served?..."Making A Murderer"

Making A Murderer (2015)

TV-14

Directed by Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi

The Story:

Steven Avery was accused by the Manitowoc Wisconsin police department of committing rape. He maintained his innocence, and sat in prison for 18 years until DNA evidence was finally tested and showed that he didn't commit the crime. Someone else did. And the police department knew about it years earlier, and did nothing. Once freed, Avery sued the department for 36 million dollars. However, a murder occurs in Manitowoc, and Avery is once again charged with a crime that he claims he did not commit.

Did he? Di the 18 years behind bars teach him how he could possibly get away with murder?

Or did lightning strike again and send an innocent man back to jail a second time for a crime he didn't commit?

The Netflix documentary that is sweeping the nation has swept its way through my house, and it's an incredible journey.

Filmed over the course of 10 years, I'm assuming the directors came to film Avery's tale as he was being released for the first crime and just happened to stumble into the second crime quite by accident.  The amount of coverage they have is amazing. I've read they culled from over 700 hours (!!!) of footage to provide us with 10 compelling hours of true crime television.

The main complaint I've seen against this film is:

1) It should be a commentary not a documentary because it basically plays for the defense and may not give every ounce of details that were presented in the case.

My rebuttal:

Wah.

It doesn't matter what you call it, this is nothing that you haven't seen for years on Dateline, 20/20 or the like. It can be edited however you like, it's still telling a true story.

This is like the worst possible Law & Order episode you've ever watched. You swear the cops are crooked and the prosecution and the judge(s) are in on the cover-up.

But you don't want to believe it's possible.

However, with each new episode, your blood pressure rises at the amount of circumstantial and yes, likely false/planted evidence that conveniently winds up in favor of the prosecution.

It's baffling, it's mind-boggling, it's frustrating.

Avery could very well be guilty...

BUT...

There is so much more to the story. Others will be charged as well, and if you think THAT person is guilty, you're obviously not paying much attention to how he is interrogated by the police and forced into saying and writing things that are obviously not his own words or thoughts.

It's heartbreaking.

Plus...

If you don't think the victim's brother is in on it...

Ah, but I'll say no more.

Plus, I'm not sure that the story is truly over yet. You've likely seen the headlines and petitions. Netflix viewers think the man is innocent, and the groundswell of support is impressive.

Let's see what happens next.

The year is young, but this is the show to beat for Best TV of the Year.

Final Grade: A