Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

This is the final film in a trio of documentaries following a heinous crime in West Memphis, Arkansas in 1993 when three young boys were sexually assaulted and murdered not far from their homes.(I recommend You Watch the other films first, you can here : Paradise Lost 1 and Paradise Lost 2) .

The first film had followed the aftermath of the murders and the trial of three young men charged with and convicted of the crimes.

Following the first films release doubts that were cast by many as to whether the right men had been caught after all; this was the main theme of the second film.

Part 3 Purgatory now quiet strongly asserts the innocence of the convicted men Jessie Misskelley, Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin. In the second film Revelations from 2000 we found a small number of people that had real issues with the case but now 11 years on there has been a crescendo of support for the men being called The West Memphis Three including from celebrity's such as Musician  Eddie Vedder and Director Peter Jackson and the new wife of the convicted man thought to be the ringleader Damien Echols.

A truly amazing set of films were for all intents and purposes the single documentary Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky set out to make grew into something they never could have imagined. Documentaries are powerful that's why we love them but now and again a documentary can have an effect that changes the course of history.