In Helen's lesson we watched Aileen - Life and Death of A Serial Killer, its a documentary about the trial and eventual execution of Aileen Wuornos the first female serial killer in America.
The Film documented the life of Aileen, her troubled childhood, the reasons why she took up prostitution and how her family treated her during her incarceration, Broomsfield also explores Aileens obvious mental health issues and how the justice system in America ignored these things in return for a boost in popularity.
Whats impressive is how Broomsfield invokes feelings of empathy towards Aileen, even though we know what she did in murdering 8 men and hiding the bodies we still feel pity towards her and see how she didn't receive the help she needed and how she was used as a political pawn to help further peoples careers.
Whilst I do feel like Wournos should have faced judgment for what she did, She should not have been treated in that way, the justice system failed her and I believe thats what Broomsfield message was.
In terms of the technical aspects of the documentary Nick Broomsfield makes good use of a reflexive style of documentary, showing himself and the crew several times, this works in his favour as it seems a more honest form, there are also 'errors' in filming, such as reframing shots and the camera moving around before focusing, this helps sell the "as its happening" aspect of the documentary and adds a layer of believability to the film as it isn't perfect.
There is plenty of Archive footage and GV's, Broomsfield narrates throughout the documentary in a voice over, he doesn't really stand before the camera in a PTC .
This was the second time for me watching the film and it had a similar impact to the first time, I am a big fan of the reflexive style of documentary and would like to emulate it in future projects.
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