Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy (2011)

The Age of Commercialism

I like Black Panther, but I didn't like this movie.

An action-packed slog

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

In 2007 Perugia, Italy, Amanda Knox (Hayden Panettiere) and boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito (Paolo Romio) call the police for a possible break-in. Then the body of her roommate Meredith Kercher is found locked in her room. In a long flashback, Amanda is an eager university girl from Seattle who wants to spend a year in Italy. She and Sollecito become prime suspect and eventually convicted for the Kercher murder.I really like the start with the movie getting right into the case. Then the movie goes back to a very bland flashback. Anything significant gleamed from the flashback can easily be included later on in smaller snippets. It's only ten minutes but it sucks out much of the early tension. Generally, this is an acceptable TV movie with Panettiere keeping the character compelling to watch. There is no doubt that this is exploitation TV but it's relatively well-made. It's not trying to take an obvious side but that can also make the movie less dramatic.

The ongoing saga of Amanda Knox is fascinating and terrifying and unbelievable in the way only a true life story can be. The movie does a good balanced job of putting together the series of events without leaning too much to one side or the other, though personally after watching it I felt quite convinced of her innocence. There was no motive. The evidence against them is so flimsy and quite ridiculous. Hayden acts quite neutrally, letting you decide for yourself about her behavior. Marcia is alright as the worried mother. Nice on location filming and feel. Italy looks quite charming here even though Perugia is not the most picturesque town in Tuscany. How this could have happened in Italy is just shocking. Such a tragedy for all esp Amanda and Raffaele. Hope they get out soon.

Please, whatever you do, do not use this movie as a means of deciding whether Amanda Knox and Rafaelle Sollecito are guilty or innocent. There are major factual errors in this movie. This movie makes the claim that a store owner identified Amanda as someone who bought bleach the morning after the murder within days of the murder. This simply is not true. That store owner did not claim Amanda was at his store until 10 months later. And he only made the claim when he was paid for an interview. Furthermore, no other evidence was ever produced to support this claim.The movie also definitively portrays Rafaelle as not calling the 112 number until after the postal police are there. Again, that is not true. The investigators reached that decision based on the clock on a nearby parking garage that was established to be about 12 minutes off.This movie plays very fast and loose with the facts. View it as enjoyable lifetime movie fluff if you will, but DO NOT decide Amanda is guilty based on this movie.

This movie promotes several gross distortions which CBS News Crimesider, for one, has identified. Example: in one scene Amanda knew too much prior to her interrogation, such as how her friend Amanda had died. CBS CrimeSider calls this one of the five biggest lies in the film. And yes, it was not in the trial either.Why was Amanda's interrogation not recorded? Why did the prosecution's forensic team not testify in the trial about any crime scene cleanup? Why did the police, while testing, destroy the hard-drives of the computer which Amanda and Raffaele said they were using that night? Why are so many other facts misreported in newspapers and TV? The movie does not answer any of those questions truthfully, or even raise them. It is mysterious. It seems to be a commercial game. Or maybe they are just "giving Amanda and Raffaele a bad time." In this movie, a blonde Italian-American Hollywood woman acts out a screenplay to portray a red-haired Scottish-American honor student from Seattle as if she were a bratty, suspicious and brazen character. Someone has friends in low places.