Aileen Wuornos was seriously ill, and she was killed. And this is heartbreaking.
To see her as she waxes paranoid and looks over her shoulder and, eyes-ablaze, screams and hollers to anyone who will listen, is truly, breath-takingly heartbreaking. You want to give her a hug, because although she committed horrendous atrocities, there is the very real possibility that she wasn't entirely to blame, and with the help of Jed Bush, she is ensuring that she will be put to death.
Broomfield, fairly early on, commits the cardinal sequel sin by filling loads of it with bits from the earlier film, but in this case they're kind of justified. And they're all the more poignant, as the strong woman who fought her case just over a decade ago is revealed as the delusional, broken, institutionalised child she ended up.
It's rare that The Duke would shed a tear at the old movie-watching. Not even when the kid and the alien take off in a bike in Mac And Me, and the FBI are about to gun them down with walkie-talkies just for being different, not even then. But this right here is a real person, and she has no idea what she is doing or saying. Only that someone is reading her mind, somewhere along the line.
Steve Glazer, the guitar strumming balladeer and sometime lawyer from the first film appears here once more, and greets Broomfield with "Fuck you. Fuck you and the queen, man. Fuck you and your documentary." It seems there weren't too many people who wanted to hire Dr Legal after seeing The Selling Of A Serial Killer, even if he does do a mean version of Phil Ochs' The Iron Lady.
Aileen Wuornos was executed in 2002 by lethal injection, and on what would have been her birthday this year, Charlize Theron won an Oscar for portraying her in exactly the kind of motion picture Wuornos never wanted to happen. She spent the most crucially important years of her life watching people get rich by selling the rights to "The Story Of America's First Female Serial Killer", and it seems bitterly ironic that Monster, the second-such feature, should be reaping the acclaim it has, whilst Broomfield's two portraits of the actual woman go largely unacknowledged.
But that's the world for you, kids. People like seeing actors pretending to be real people, and people like killing mentally ill lesbians. That's your lesson for the day.
The Duke resides at Mondo Irlando
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Article comments
1 - Chris Kent
I'm not sure what disturbs me more Duke. An insane lesbian being murdered or you reminding me of the God-awful film Mac and Me......
I'm not sure you are treading any new ground here. Once someone like Wuornos gets caught up within the system, a system politicians (yes, Bush reference here) speed up to obtain popularity and thus votes, she has very little chance.
I like it that you champion this poor woman, but I would rather you champion an innocent man about to be put to death.......
2 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Thank you Chris.
Thing is, this is first and foremost a film review, and as such, i can only really talk about what is presented therein. But this highlights what i feel is a morally repugnant act - state-endorsed execution. And it is heart-wrenchingly sad to watch. And there are many people innocent of their accused foibles, and they too meet this barbaric end. Hopefully films like this go some to way to highlighting that fact.
Thanks again!
3 - Chris Kent
Duke,
I agree with your beliefs on execution. I don't really consider this post a film review more than a moral stance about the film's subject matter. Most people will watch the film long before they watch the documentary. You say documentary, people run to the malt shop. You say Charlize Theron, and people are tripping over themselves to wait in line.
I'm a big fan of documentaries, but consider this subject matter covered by this director to be sensational and unworthy for the most part......