If listening to Serial and watching The Jinx has left you hooked on true crime, you may want to turn to Netflix for your next fix. There are plenty of critically acclaimed options within the genre currently available for streaming. Here are 7 must-watch documentaries you can watch now.
1. Central Park Five
The 2012 documentary, directed by Ken Burns, delves into the powerful impact that media can have on the public perception of a high-profile investigation – in this case, the 1989 trial of five black and Latino teenagers, who spent between six and 13 years in prison after getting wrongly convicted of raping a white woman in Central Park. The film exposes the flaws in the system’s criminal proceedings and highlights how a mob mentality led to the jailing of the wrongly accused teenagers, despite evidence pointing to the real culprit, who eventually confessed.
1. Central Park Five
The 2012 documentary, directed by Ken Burns, delves into the powerful impact that media can have on the public perception of a high-profile investigation – in this case, the 1989 trial of five black and Latino teenagers, who spent between six and 13 years in prison after getting wrongly convicted of raping a white woman in Central Park. The film exposes the flaws in the system’s criminal proceedings and highlights how a mob mentality led to the jailing of the wrongly accused teenagers, despite evidence pointing to the real culprit, who eventually confessed.
2. Into the Abyss
Warner Herzog’s 2011 documentary takes a closer look at the aftermath of a 2001 triple homicide in Conroe, Texas, and the death row inmate convicted of the crime, Michael Perry. The film, which features interviews with Perry, law enforcement officials, and the families of the victims, doesn’t focus on the suspect’s guilt or innocent. Instead, it uses the conversations to spur a larger examination of the state of the prison system and the issue of capital punishment in the United States.
3. Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
Kurt Kuenne created this emotionally gripping 2008 documentary for his close friend, Andrew Bagby, who was murdered by his ex, Shirley Jane Turner, after Bagby ended their tumultuous relationship. After her arrest, Turner announced she was pregnant with Bagby’s son, Zachary, who was put in the care of his paternal grandparents. Later, Turner was able to outmaneuver the Canadian legal system and managed to win custody of the little boy back. Kuenne interviewed relatives, friends, and associates of Bagby’s as these events unfolded, highlighting the country’s flawed bail laws and child care system.
4. Cropsey
The 2009 documentary, directed by Joshua Zeman and Barbara Bancaccio, initially begins as an examination of “Cropsey,” a boogeyman-like figure at the center of a scary New York urban legend that children often heard growing up. The story eventually ties to the very real case of Andre Rand, a man in Staten Island convicted of kidnapping children. As clues are uncovered and more information is revealed, the film depicts a reality much more chilling and terrifying than the original myth.
5. Tabloid
Directed by Errol Morris, the 2010 documentary film chronicles the story of Joyce McKinney, a woman accused of kidnapping and raping an American Mormon missionary in England in the ’70s. The “Mormon sex in chains case,” as it was called, became a huge British tabloid story, and McKinney became a celebrity of sorts before jumping bail and fleeing the country. Featuring interviews with McKinney and other journalists involved with her story, the film intriguingly points out the sensationalism of crimes via the media and the public eye.
6. The Imposter
The 2012 release follows the the 1997 case of the French confidence trickster Frédéric Bourdin, who impersonated Nicholas Barclay, a Texas boy who went missing at the age of 13 in 1994. Bourdin fooled several officials in Spain and in the U.S., claiming that he was Barclay and that he been kidnapped for purposes of sexual abuse by Mexican, European, and U.S. military personnel. After an FBI agent and private investigator became suspicious of his story,Bourdin finally revealed the truth and the film chronicles his retelling of the various stages of his impersonation.
7. The Thin Blue Line
The 1988 Eroll Morris-directed flick depicts the story of Randall Dale Adams, a man who was wrongfully convicted of killing a Dallas police officer in 1976 and sentenced to life in prison. Morris, who was reportedly motivated to document the investigation after being struck by the fact that Adams had no criminal history prior to his sentencing, chronicles the case through a series of interviews with Adams, the judge presiding over the case and several witnesses and detectives. The film, which also features reenactments of the shooting, eventually played a role in exonerating Adams. –Source: Cheat Sheet
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