5 minute read
Screen Time
JIM KEOGH
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If you could be given the definitive answer to any one question in a notorious true-crime mystery, what would it be?
Would you want to know if Oswald acted alone? Who took the life of JonBenét Ramsey? Where Jimmy Hoffa is buried? The identity of Jack the Ripper, the Zodiac Killer, or the Black Dahlia murderer?
For me, I’d need to know whether Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, M.D., stabbed his wife and two young daughters to death on Feb. 17, 1970, in their home in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. MacDonald is serving three life sentences for the crimes, despite his assertion that the murders were committed by four hippies who broke into the apartment in search of drugs. The saga was chronicled by Joe McGinniss in his bestselling book “Fatal Vision,” in which he embedded with MacDonald’s defense team and was assumed to be writing a
NEW ON DVD
KATIE FORAN-MCHALE TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE
Adocumentary featuring an American legend tops the new DVD releases for the week of Sept. 29.
“John Lewis: Good Trouble”:
Rep. John Lewis died in July, leaving a breathtaking legacy. Known for marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on 1965’s Bloody Sunday to protest voting discrimination against Black people and risking his life amid deadly police beatings, his more than 40 arrests during the civil rights movement protesting segregation, and decades of work toward legislation in these areas as well as health care and gun reform (just to name a few), Lewis is affectionately profiled in the documentary, directed by Dawn Porter.
Among its charming moments are the ones when Lewis reflects and reacts on archival footage featuring version of events favorable to their case. Instead, McGinniss famously concluded that the evidence against MacDonald offered unassailable proof of his guilt.
Fifty years later, the MacDonald case is still the source of debate and dissection, most recently in the fivepart FX docuseries “A Wilderness of Error.” The series is fueled by the 2012 book of the same name by Errol Morris, who argues that MacDonald likely did not do the crime and should be released. Morris bases his argument largely on the confession of Helena Stoeckley that she was one of the band of hippies who invaded the MacDonald home. Stoeckley, known as “the woman in the floppy hat” for her signature headwear, repeated her claim on numerous occasions, with a notable exception. On the stand at MacDonald’s trial, she professed to not remembering anything about that night.
Morris is best known a master documentary filmmaker who’s no the iconic activist. But its anchor is its subtitle: As Lewis said in March of this year, to commemorate the anniversary of Bloody Sunday, “Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and redeem the soul of America.”
As Tribune News Service critic Katie Walsh wrote in her review, the documentary reminds us that these battles weren’t that long ago, and they especially resonate in the current climate.
“Lewis is such a towering figure in American history, and American politics, that any tribute to him is a worthy one,” Walsh wrote. “We all have so much to thank him for.”
ALSO NEW ON DVD SEPT. 29 “Agatha Christie’s Death on the
Nile”: While on a cruise in Egypt, Detective Hercule Poirot (David Suchet) encounters a love triangle with a conflict that turns deadly. Also stars Emily Blunt and JJ Feild. “Charmed: Season 2”: The ongostranger to the crime genre. His 1988 film “The Thin Blue” line was instrumental in freeing a man from death row by exposing the flaws in the case against him. I’ll give Morris credit for making a bold move with the “A Wilderness of Error.” He chose not to direct the film (it’s helmed by Marc Smerling) and his influence is mostly felt in front of the camera, where he’s interviewed about his perceptions of the case. Morris offers valid criticisms concerning the sloppiness of the crime-scene investigation and the suppression of key testimony at MacDonald’s trial, which damaged his defense.
But by surrendering the directing duties to Smerling, Morris loses his usual leverage of being the inquisitor and is left in the more humbling position of having to answer pointed questions. He turns preachy, pronouncing how a compelling narrative will always surpass objective evidence, and he fumbles for why he’s invested so much faith in the ing reboot of the series featuring three sisters who discover they are witches. Stars Melonie Diaz, Madeleine Mantock, Sarah Jeffery and Rupert Evans.
“Hip Hop: The Songs That Shook
America”: Documentary series breaks down historical context and compositional history for some of the most iconic hip-hop songs.
“Penny Dreadful: City of Angeles
Season One”: Showtime series follows a pair of late 1930s detectives (Daniel Zovatto and Nathan Lane) who encounter a disturbing Los Angeles murder.
“DC’s Stargirl: Complete First
Season”: CW series stars Brec Bassinger as the high school superhero who rallies an unlikely group together to fight evil.
“Welcome to Sudden Death”:
Sequel to 1995’s Jean-Claude Van Damme-starring “Sudden Death.” Stars Michael Jai White, Debby Ryan, Bill Burr, Ken Jeong and Gary Owen.
A scene from the docuseries “A Wilderness of Error.”
unreliable testimony of Stoeckley and others. Morris answers “I don’t know” to some questions — a response I admire for its candor (I also appreciate that these replies weren’t edited out of the film).
I emerged from “A Wilderness of Error” as saddened and outraged as when I read “Fatal Vision” many
U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., is the subject of the documentary, “John Lewis: Good Trouble.” ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO OUT ON DIGITAL HD SEPT. 29
“The Dead Ones”: Teens in detention are hunted by a group dressed up as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
“Digimon Adventure: Last Evolu-
tion Kizuna”: Animated film leads Tai and his pals to discover that as they get closer to adulthood, they’ll lose their bonds with their Digimon. Look for it on DVD and Blu-ray Oct. 6. “Inez & Doug & Kira”: A woman years ago. The evidence is still too powerful for me to draw a new conclusion, despite Morris’s valiant attempt to convince me that the long shadow of the floppy hat should move anyone convinced of MacDonald’s guilt to reconsider the events of Feb. 17, 1970. Of course, we’ll never
‘John Lewis: Good Trouble’ follows life of beloved civil rights icon
know for sure, will we? and her fiance investigate her sister’s death by suicide. “The Silencing”: Years after a killer may have taken a hunter’s daughter, the hunter (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and a sheriff (Annabelle Wallis) set out to find him. “Wives in the Skies”: Romantic dramedy features a pair of female flight attendants in 1965 (Rachel Alig and Maddison Bullock) delving into an interview with a British journalist (Sebastian Fernandez).
