Amanda Knox (2016)

Amanda Knox: Directed by Rod Blackhurst, Brian McGinn. With Amanda Knox, Meredith Kercher, Raffaele Sollecito, Giuliano Mignini. American exchange student Amanda Knox is convicted and eventually acquitted for the 2007 death of another student in Italy.

“On the morning November 2, 2007, 21-year old Meredith Kercheru0026#39;s lifeless body was discovered in the room of a house that she shared with 3 other women while attending school as part of the Erasmus student exchange program in Perugia, Italy. Sheu0026#39;d only been in Perugia a few months. One of the housemates present at the scene of discovery was 20-year old Amanda Knox of Seattle, Washington, also a student and the person from whom this Netflix documentary takes itu0026#39;s name.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eCanu0026#39;t say that I was really looking forward to watching this, especially after finding out that itu0026#39;s producers were somewhat deceptive in their claims of showing what they had said would be an unbiased and neutral take in what has been one of the most divisive cases to emerge in the age of the internet and social media. Turns out theyu0026#39;d been advocates for Knoxu0026#39;s innocence since at least 2011, when Judge Pratillo Hellmann acquitted Knox and co-defendant, Raffaele Sollecito at their first appeal. Why not state your pro-innocence bias upfront? Nothing wrong with that, if you truly believe it, but why state otherwise? And why also state youu0026#39;ve got new revelations about the case when you really donu0026#39;t? In fact there was more left out than was put in, but then 90 minutes couldnu0026#39;t possibly cover the roller-coaster of the 3-tiered Italian judiciary system, so the documentary must be selectively streamlined. And boy was it. In a week that started with the first 2016 Presidential Debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, and the question rises about the inability of the news media to u0026quot;fact-checku0026quot;, u0026quot;Amanda Knoxu0026quot; finishes the week off with the same question; Did anybody bother to fact-check? Sure, thereu0026#39;s a few facts sprinkled here and there, but theyu0026#39;re mostly sugar-coated or given short thrift. But short thrift on facts is one thing, glaring omissions of them is another. People are given short thrift as well, most noticeably Meredith Kercher. The documentary almost treats her like an inconvenience to the main story of superstar celebrity Amanda Knox, who herself canu0026#39;t even get facts straight and contradicts her own documented statements several times throughout. Her personal script seems to change almost as much as her alibis did in 2007. And then thereu0026#39;s her on screen, um, presence. She doesnu0026#39;t really have any and looks uncomfortable, all the while making her come across as very unlikable. How much is acting and how much is real emotion? With Knox itu0026#39;s hard to tell. Same goes goes for Knifeboy, excuse me, Sollecito. Heu0026#39;s almost as unlikable as Knox. And was he stoned when they filmed his interviews? As for Nick Pisa, I had him pegged for scummy trash-journalist years ago and the documentary confirms this, but I donu0026#39;t think the makers of u0026quot;Amanda Knoxu0026quot; realized that they would be proving his point as well. Theyu0026#39;re actually doing what heu0026#39;ll be blamed for and thatu0026#39;s creating a u0026quot;storyu0026quot; to mislead while omitting facts (like the fact that Italyu0026#39;s highest court did not exonerate Knox by any means, but thatu0026#39;s another documentary) in order to grab headlines and cheap soundbites. The words are different, but the storyu0026#39;s the same. They also donu0026#39;t quite pull off their efforts in dichotomy with Giuliano Mignini. The uninformed will see him as the other main villain, but anyone who has followed this tragic case knows better. Overall, u0026quot;Amanda Knoxu0026quot; is a bad piece of Pubic Relations propaganda that certainly wonu0026#39;t sway anyone who believes that Knox, Sollecito and Rudy Guede all participated in the murder of Meredith Kercher, but will certainly convince the selfie generation that, u0026quot;OMG, sheu0026#39;s so totally innocent, I canu0026#39;t believe itu0026quot;. And neither do I.”