It's simple. "Who Killed Garrett Phillips?" HBO. July 2019.
In the vexed New York town called Potsdam, the "North Country," a place "not easy to get to," a middle schooler heads home. He is wrapping up his school day. He enters his mom's apartment. Within one or two hours, he is strangled, dead.
This is a true story.
Racist cops ("We're not racist") decide that a local African-American soccer coach must have done the deed. There's very little that could even be called circumstantial evidence. The soccer coach is treated brutally; he loses his job; for years, he fights to clear his name. If he didn't actually commit the crime, then, somewhere, perhaps somewhere near Potsdam, a child-murderer is wandering around, scot-free.
It's been said that following a crime story is like following a fairy tale. The "pleasures" (queasy, problematic term, in this context) on offer are similar. You sense that someone is a witch in disguise; the handsome and charismatic talking head might actually be a murderer. (The problem of evil is that it generally wears a disguise; Snow White's evil Queen, for example, is one beguiling and alluring superstar.)
It's unclear who murdered Garrett Phillips; the answer might always evade us. What I loved about the new HBO film is how much access the supremely-gifted director, Liz Garbus, won for herself; we hear from the accused, from another suspect, from dreadful cops, from wily lawyers, from one understandably-enraged uncle-of-the-victim. I also love how Garbus erases herself from the frame; this is not an act of showboating, but a work of supreme and delicate empathy. You sense--as others have noted--Garbus can look in the face of evil, and look quietly, and seduce that face into talking, and talking, and talking some more.
If you haven't heard of Garbus, you might also want to look at her earlier work, "There's Something Wrong with Aunt Diane." Another masterwork. Garbus has a gift for quietly suggesting ways in which crimes illuminate major societal issues; "Diane" is, in part, about mental health and about demands on women, and "Garrett Phillips" is very clearly a commentary on race in America.
I'm obsessed. Visit HBO when you have a chance. You won't regret this choice.
In the vexed New York town called Potsdam, the "North Country," a place "not easy to get to," a middle schooler heads home. He is wrapping up his school day. He enters his mom's apartment. Within one or two hours, he is strangled, dead.
This is a true story.
Racist cops ("We're not racist") decide that a local African-American soccer coach must have done the deed. There's very little that could even be called circumstantial evidence. The soccer coach is treated brutally; he loses his job; for years, he fights to clear his name. If he didn't actually commit the crime, then, somewhere, perhaps somewhere near Potsdam, a child-murderer is wandering around, scot-free.
It's been said that following a crime story is like following a fairy tale. The "pleasures" (queasy, problematic term, in this context) on offer are similar. You sense that someone is a witch in disguise; the handsome and charismatic talking head might actually be a murderer. (The problem of evil is that it generally wears a disguise; Snow White's evil Queen, for example, is one beguiling and alluring superstar.)
It's unclear who murdered Garrett Phillips; the answer might always evade us. What I loved about the new HBO film is how much access the supremely-gifted director, Liz Garbus, won for herself; we hear from the accused, from another suspect, from dreadful cops, from wily lawyers, from one understandably-enraged uncle-of-the-victim. I also love how Garbus erases herself from the frame; this is not an act of showboating, but a work of supreme and delicate empathy. You sense--as others have noted--Garbus can look in the face of evil, and look quietly, and seduce that face into talking, and talking, and talking some more.
If you haven't heard of Garbus, you might also want to look at her earlier work, "There's Something Wrong with Aunt Diane." Another masterwork. Garbus has a gift for quietly suggesting ways in which crimes illuminate major societal issues; "Diane" is, in part, about mental health and about demands on women, and "Garrett Phillips" is very clearly a commentary on race in America.
I'm obsessed. Visit HBO when you have a chance. You won't regret this choice.
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