EXHIBIT A-IOI - West Memphis Three Case - Document Archive

Case 4:09-cv-00008-BSM Document 30-5 Filed 07/17/2009 Page 79 of 297
SECTION: FEATURES; Pg. 17
LENGTH: 1533 words
Copyright 1996 The Patriot Ledger
The Patriot Ledger (Quincy, MA)
August 30, 1996 Friday ROP Edition
HEADLINE: TOWN on trial;
FILMMAKERS' STARTLING LOOK AT 'SATANIC' CHILD MURDER CASE HIGLIGHTS BOSTON FILM
FESTIVAL
BYLINE: Constance Gorfmkle, The Patriot Ledger
SOURCE: The Patriot Ledger
BODY:
Ifthe O.J. Simpson murder trial weren't enough to convince the American people that our system ofjurisprudence
is in serious need of an overhaul, "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills" should clinch it. A documentary
by Bruce Sinofsky and Joe Berlinger, it's a stunning follow-up to their 1993 documentary "Brother's Keeper,"
which examined the weird relationship among three brothers in rural upstate New York that came to light when one of
them died under mysterious circumstances.
As dramatic as any work offiction, "Paradise Lost" is one ofthe 60 or so features included in the 12th Annual Boston
Film Festival, which opens next Friday. Sinofsky and Berlinger will attend the festival screening of"Paradise Lost,"
scheduled for Sept. 12.
Like "Brother's Keeper," it is an amazingly intimate film that looks hard at a community in crisis. But, while the
first movie was absolutely inspiring in the goodness and generosity it revealed about the brothers' neighbors, "Paradise
Lost" is about small-town meanness, prejudice and fear in the wake ofa terrible triple murder. And it's about opportunists
who exploit those tendencies to further their own ambitions.
Sinofsky, a native ofNewton who summered in Hull as a boy, and Berlinger pull no punches right from the opening
frames. The sequence -- a police video ofa crime scene that shows the naked, mutilated bodies ofthree young boys
-- is so unnerving it reverberates for the entire film.
"We struggled over the use ofthat material," said Sinofsky during a phone interview from New York.
"We were especially concerned about the families ofthe victims themselves. They had never seen this footage; it
was not put into evidence. But, you know, the film is 150 minutes long, and there's only about 2 1/2 minutes ofthe
boys."
Sinofsky and Berlinger ultimately decided to include the disturbing footage because "we felt it was important for
the audience to see the horrific nature ofthis crime -- one, because it would stay in your mind forever, and, two, it
would be cheating the audience to have people talking about (the victims) being skinned alive and being beaten beyond
recognition, without the audience seeing them for themselves. Because (some ofthe more lurid descriptions) were just
not true."
The impetus for "Paradise Lost" was a
small New York Times article sent to Sinofsky and Berlinger by a representative ofHome Box Office about three
teenagers who had been arrested in West Memphis, Ark., for the murders ofthree 8-year-old boys. But it wasn't until
Sinofsky and Berlinger read local coverage ofthe crime that they knew they had the material for a feature documentary.