Saturday, February 03, 2018

Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer




Directed by Nick Broomfield and Joan Churchill and written and co-starring Nick Broomfield, Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer is a follow-up film to Broomfield’s 1993 film Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer where he interviews Wuornos during the final moments of her life while she’s in prison. The film showcases some of the events where her case had been mishandled as well as her mental state where she is to be executed for her crimes. The result is a harrowing and chilling film from Nick Broomfield and Joan Churchill.

In 2002 just almost a decade after the state of Florida found Aileen Wuornos guilty for the murder of seven men in Florida between 1989 and 1990 where she is expected to be executed on October 9, 2002. During an evidentiary hearing relating to Wuornos’ case, director Nick Broomfield was subpoenaed due to his work on the Wuornos case in the early 1990s relating to a previous documentary he made about Wuornos. During the course of the film, he would interview Wuornos where he notices Wuornos rambling about eating poisoned and tainted food as well as the idea that the police was involved in the men she had killed. With cinematographer Joan Churchill serving as co-director, Broomfield would interview Wuornos as well as those who were closest to her as they all feel that she is not treated fairly in comparison to some serial killers who would get life sentences while she would get the death penalty.

With footage from the 1993 documentary compiled with film editor Claire Ferguson, Broomfield and Churchill would show conversations from the past of an attorney that represented Wuornos and then have him re-watch that footage for the hearing. The film would have Broomfield also use his previous film to play into Wuornos’ previous interviews in comparison to the final interviews where it is clear that her ramblings are becoming nonsensical as he feels like she is mentally unfit to be executed. Though Wuornos claims she’s mentally fit and wants to die where Florida’s then-governor Jeb Bush signs the warrant for her execution. There’s a sadness to the fact that she only killed these men just to rob them though the first victim was trying to rape her while she has become consumed with anger over the way the media has treated her. Even when Broomfield talks to her about her mother whom he would meet just days before Wuornos’ execution definitely gets her very upset.

Sound editor Steve Murphy would compile phone call and audio from Broomfield’s previous film as it play into the events from the past and to the events leading up to Wuornos’ execution. The film’s music by Rob Lane is a low-key score that has elements of eerie guitars and synthesizers that play into the sense of mortality that looms throughout the film while the soundtrack features Natalie Merchant’s Carnival as the closing song as it was the song played at Wuornos’ funeral.

Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer is a sensational film from Nick Broomfield and Joan Churchill. It’s a film that profiles a woman who admits to killing some men but not for the thrill of it as well as exploring her troubled life and the descent into madness that would loom to the final moments of her life. In the end, Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer is a phenomenal film from Nick Broomfield and Joan Churchill.

Related: (Monster (2003 film))

Nick Broomfield Films: (Who Cares?) – (Proud to Be British) – (Behind the Rent Strike) – (Juvenile Liaison) – (Whittingham) – (Fort Augustus) – (Soldier Girls) – (Tattooed Tears) – (Chicken Ranch) – (Lily Tomlin) – (Driving Me Crazy) – (Diamond Skulls) – (Juvenile Liaison 2) – (The Leader, the Driver and the Driver’s Wife) – (Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer) – (Monster in a Box) – (Tracking Down Maggie) – (Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam) – (Fetishes) – (Kurt & Courtney) – (Biggie & Tupac) – (His Big White Self) – (Ghosts (2006 film)) – (Battle for Haditha) – (Sarah Palin: You Betcha!) – (Tales of the Grim Sleeper) – Whitney: Can I Be Me?

© thevoid99 2018

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