On Sept. 30 the highly anticipated Netflix documentary, ‘Amanda Knox,’ was released and brought a new perspective to a nine-year-old murder case.
In 2007, Knox was a student from Seattle, Washington studying abroad in Perugia, Italy.
Not very long after she arrived she became involved in a relationship with Raffaele Sollecito.
When her roommate, British student Meredith Kercher, was murdered in the apartment they shared both Knox and Sollecito became immediate suspects leading to their arrests.
In 2009, Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison and Sollecito 25 years for the murder of Kercher. Lead prosecutor Giuliano Mignini, in the documentary, stated that he was convinced that they were guilty and there was no way that they could escape the Italian justice system. He also insisted that their behavior was abnormal and very suspicious.
However, in 2011, both were acquitted of their charges because of potentially contaminated evidence as well as an insufficient amount of evidence that put Knox in the crime scene.
Mignini expressed his disbelief as they were also acquitted by the Italian supreme court in 2015.
The directors, Rob Blackhurst and Brian Ginn, have expressed that they wanted everyone in the film to speak truly and freely.
They told their stories, but, was the film biased?
You could say yes, because the focus was only on Knox, hence the documentary name.
In the documentary, British Journalist Nick Pisa, gives his version on how media covered the story and it is hard to not make him the person you want to hate in the film.
Pisa makes it clear that being on top of that story was more important than telling the truth. Telling the story was more important to him to beat competing journalists covering the story. Immediately the film focuses on how media shaped the entire case and showed Knox as a bad girl, sexual and untrustworthy.
Interesting enough, Pisa says, “we’re journalists, we are reporting what we are told.”
Pisa makes it clear that media had a large part in how international the case became but also leaves the viewer siding with Knox and believing in her innocence.
“What am I supposed to do, fact check?” said Pisa.
Yes, please do fact check. Journalists are supposed to tell the truth. A code of ethics is there for a reason. He is one journalist in this film representing all journalists and media that covered the years following the murder case of Kercher.
“Either I’m a psychopath in sheep’s clothing or I am you,” said Knox. She explains that she is finally free to help others in similar situations that she found herself in years ago.
The documentary was insightful and was expected to show the other sides of Knox and Sollecito that the public has not seen. The public loves a good story, loves to hate the so-called villain of the story, but, minds were definitely changed after the Netflix documentary was released.