It feels oddly uncomfortable stepping back into the world of Making A Murderer.
The captivating Netflix documentary true crime series, which kept millions of viewers across the planet glued to the 10 episodes of the phenomenal and frustrating story of Steven Avery, his nephew Brendan Dassey, his extended family, the people and law enforcement officials of Manitowoc County Wisconsin and the family of murder victim Teresa Halbach, is such a powerful and draining experience for the viewer, that I often find it hard to discuss it in its aftermath – despite having been so undeniably addicted to the series upon initial viewing.
So with the announcement by the Spectrum Now Festival that the makers of the series, documentarians Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos, would be making an appearance to speak publicly about their film making process and and behind-the-scenes stories, it felt like this would be an opportunity to obtain some closure that hasn’t been satisfyingly supplied by the series itself.
The two appeared at the Star Casino’s event centre with surprisingly adept moderator, comedian Charlie Pickering, who – as well as clearly being a fan of the series – also proved that his former life as a lawyer made him the perfect host for the evening. Over the course of an hour and a half, the three discussed several defining moments from the series, as well as how they managed to obtain such incredible footage, access for interviews, and their feelings from throughout the fascinating process of piecing it all together.
And although there was no satisfying conclusion – like a curtain dropping down behind them to reveal a picture of Teresa’s brother or ex-boyfriend as the real killers (my current theory), there were certainly some truly earth-shatteringly revealing moments. For instance, Ricciardi and Damos discussed how two of the three jurors that were noted in the series for refusing to deliberate on a not guilty verdict in the Avery murder case, in fact had close and familial ties to law enforcement officials in the county.
No, seriously.
The judge in the Steven Avery case denied superstar normcore duo / mega lawyers Dean Strang and Jerry Buting from accusing anyone else as potential suspects in the murder – except for Brendan Dassey. The reason they were able to get such amazing courtroom footage was the fact that Court TV pulled out of a live feed of the trial, and the judge then allowed Moira Demos to control the remote camera rig that gave us such insane in-courtroom footage through the series.
The duo, in fact, moved to Manitowoc County for the entire making of the series, and essentially became part of the community and the press for the entire process. Hence their ability to spend so much time with members of the community and their ability to get such in depth interviews and footage. They now fear that, if they ever returned (like they’ve considered to do as part of a follow-up project to continue to cover Steven’s case) that they would actually fear for their lives from the people of Manitowoc.
And considering there’s a very real possibility that a killer – or killers – are still out there, that’s legit.
They also acted as a pretty inspiring duo, explaining that both were in their 30’s when they started making the series, having left former professional lives to become film students. And after reading about Avery’s story in the paper, and doing an initial week of exploratory filming in the county around the trial, decided not to complete their final college assignment and instead chased this once-in-a-lifetime story.
So what did I learn from this talk.
Well, one: seize the day. Damos and Ricciardi are both prime examples of taking a risk in the pursuit of telling an amazing story and how that has played out in a spectacular fashion. And secondly (and unsurprisingly) that the justice system in the US is even more severely broken than it even appears on TV or podcast. It places incredible burden on the poor, pushes for convictions and quick trials above proving innocence, and more than anything else operates in a way that focuses too much on guilty versus innocent, over whether or not someone has actually been proven to be guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Do I believe Steven Avery is innocent or guilty now? I still have no idea. But it sure does feel like he should be travelling the world and being a part of these lectures rather than rotting in prison based on flimsy and corrupt evidence.
