As soon as they filmed ended I had to google the characters names to see what happened to them. I felt as though the film could not end this way. How could an innocent man sit in jail for the rest of his life? I shocked to learn that film help to bring about a retrial for Adams and eventually exonerate him. To think that documentary has enough influence to free an innocent man from a life in captivity, is a powerful thing.
Beside that I found the film to be very captivating. It kept me engaged and critically thinking throughout. There were a few things that I thought could have been done better. I felt as though some of b-rolls were somewhat cheesy and felt as though were unnecessary place holders. For example when talking about hypnosis of the female police officer there was this b-roll of a pocket watch swinging. I felt as thought this was very cheesy and unnecessary.
I felt like the film and storyline was choppy, and didn’t always flow. And at times, I found it difficult to follow the storyline. It almost felt like Morris was stretching out the story to make the film fit a certain length. This choppiness mostly refers to they way he cut interviews with witnesses and officers. My least favorite part of the film was the choice to react the scene in the officer was killed and play in again and again throughout the film. I understanding portraying the act allows viewers to better appreciate the brutality of the act, but just the way it was acted out and the constant replay of this scene almost made it feel insignificant. Each time I watched I felt as though I began to loss the appreciation that innocent man killed point blank. If I was the film maker I think I would have focused a bit more on the police offer who was killed and his story. I don’t think I would use this imagery again and again.
But overall I think the creative choice to leave the confession and later conviction of Harris till the end of the film was powerful and made for a great story. The film focussed on an interesting story and told it well for the most part, and given the film is almost thirty years old I think the overall film was a great success.