Paradise Lost 2: Revelations

The documentary returns to the case of three eight year old boys killed in Arkansas in 1993. Three teenagers were convicted of the murders and one was sentenced to death. The first documentary followed the trial. This film takes what came after the conviction: new lawyers, new evidence and the gaps in the chain of proof. At the same time John Mark Byers, the stepfather of one of the victims, moves to the centre; he talks to the camera constantly and his behaviour is the strangest thing in the film. Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky direct. The documentary dates from 2000. The case was widely argued over in America and the first documentary started a support movement that grew in later years. The method is direct; new findings are presented and the defence's arguments are given in detail. What was argued about most is the room given to Byers; the narrative moves him close to the position of suspect and that was criticised afterwards. The narrative argues for the innocence of the convicted men, and that raised an argument about its impartiality. The forensic sections are given technically and the argument over the source of the wounds is treated in detail. The three men were released in 2011 under a special agreement and the series was completed with a third film. Who it is for: people who watch forensic documentary and accounts of trials. Who it is not for: the subject is very heavy, the images hard, and the narrative partisan.