Artisan (VHS), ASIN B000056V6T

The culture wars explode in this shocking documentary. A sign hangs on a public street with this declaration: "We would be perfect parents, were it not for our own children." Facing their reckoning, three teenaged Metallica fans expect a fair trial in West Memphis, Arkansas. Satan alone, perhaps, seems capable of the crime in question: the murder and mutilation of three eight year-old victims in 1993. Convictions followed in 1994, and appeals continue.

In 1997, HBO aired Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, fueling nationwide controversy about the case. A sequel, Paradise Lost 2: Revelations, appeared in 2001. Now, Google offers 751,000 sites for the term "West Memphis Three." Lawyers will remind us that even this copious material supplies an incomplete picture of relevant events. Nevertheless, trial buffs will discover here an unparalleled mystery.

The movie opens with a hard look at what appear to be gouged wax corpses in a wooded ravine. Intermittent scenes in this documentary recapture this image, which may play back in nightmares; even adult viewers may succumb to weeping. Body parts become evidence here: Explicit language and close-ups illustrate the horror of detective work in this hard-to-fathom case.

Initially, this rural Southern community wins our sympathy. What American does not mourn for victims this young, who did nothing to warrant cuts, beatings and abandonment? The cameras follow one family to a grave on Christmas; a tiny tree celebrates the holiday, and its star shadows the forehead of a stepfather. Another scene captures two men practicing revenge: they blast a pumpkin into shreds of orange flesh. Meanwhile, vituperative outcries for savagery assault the audience.

On the other hand, three immature males, who spend their time "snake-hunting" and choosing favorite bands, hardly seem capable of merciless exactness. An expert on Satanic rituals with a mail order doctorate does not convince defense attorneys of his credentials, either. Did the prosecution mishandle this case? According to the film, police lost critical evidence and never located another suspect covered with blood and dirt. If Satan did not commit this crime, who on earth did?

Welcome to media justice: The West Memphis Three have become a cause celebre. While no one questions the shock of a town horrifically losing three "babies," the audience experiences outrage, too, as one victimized parent bounces in glee at being interviewed. As we gape, three bewildered young people continue to extol pastimes that offer no future and no tight alibis, either. Why do lawyers never interject their objections to individuals on every side of this case dramatizing their emotions while lives hang in the balance?

See this movie -- and tear your hair out! Better yet, use it as a catalyst. Learn more about courts, lawyers, judges, appeals, habeas corpus, and civil rights. Never assume innocence in anyone speaks for itself. When accused, a suspect needs the best available attorney before he talks himself right onto death row!

Meg Curtis

Meg Curtis leads a triple life as a creative writer, a college professor and a medievalist. From western New York, she gained insights into wildlife and spiritualism. In Appalachia, she learned to love America's oldest mountains. She has settled happily, with three southern cats and a basset hound named Mr. Willoughby, in Freemansburg, Pennsylvania.

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