Questions. Questions. Questions.
Right from why Sophie decided to spend her Christmas away from her family to Ian Bailey's flawed alibi to witness statements, the questions put forward by the true-crime documentary (on Netflix) make it an enthralling affair. The first episode was undoubtedly the strongest, with the focus entirely on Sophie and the gruesome incident itself. It then shifts to the arrest, re-arrest, and various trials that followed. As amazing as those rural Irish landscapes looked, it also made me feel like it is a place that can conceal its secrets very easily. It really has that inexplicable, eerie side to it. The first episode ends in probably one of the best cliffhangers you'd find in recent true-crime documentaries. This is a story that needed to be told, and in a way that we could understand and empathize with the dashingly brilliant Sophie Toscan du Plantier.
What I also liked about the piece is how it didn't overly concentrate on picking apart the family's grief, instead choosing to stick to publicly known facts around the case. The few moments that it did attempt to cover the sorrow, the makers handled the matter with subtlety. It amazes me that the locals have so much to say about the incident 25 years later. Most (or all?) of them continue to reside and be a part of the tightly-knit community in Schull, the place where the murder took place. One can see how the first-of-its-kind murder has left its mark in each of these people's lives. Interviews with Bailey himself tell a whole different picture. Is this man really saying the truth about his innocence or is he the murderer many people tout him to be? That Sophie's killer remains at large two-and-a-half decades later is what irks you, as a concerned viewer. I suggest you go into this documentary completely blank. Don't look up the case details beforehand - you can thank me later!
Right from why Sophie decided to spend her Christmas away from her family to Ian Bailey's flawed alibi to witness statements, the questions put forward by the true-crime documentary (on Netflix) make it an enthralling affair. The first episode was undoubtedly the strongest, with the focus entirely on Sophie and the gruesome incident itself. It then shifts to the arrest, re-arrest, and various trials that followed. As amazing as those rural Irish landscapes looked, it also made me feel like it is a place that can conceal its secrets very easily. It really has that inexplicable, eerie side to it. The first episode ends in probably one of the best cliffhangers you'd find in recent true-crime documentaries. This is a story that needed to be told, and in a way that we could understand and empathize with the dashingly brilliant Sophie Toscan du Plantier.
What I also liked about the piece is how it didn't overly concentrate on picking apart the family's grief, instead choosing to stick to publicly known facts around the case. The few moments that it did attempt to cover the sorrow, the makers handled the matter with subtlety. It amazes me that the locals have so much to say about the incident 25 years later. Most (or all?) of them continue to reside and be a part of the tightly-knit community in Schull, the place where the murder took place. One can see how the first-of-its-kind murder has left its mark in each of these people's lives. Interviews with Bailey himself tell a whole different picture. Is this man really saying the truth about his innocence or is he the murderer many people tout him to be? That Sophie's killer remains at large two-and-a-half decades later is what irks you, as a concerned viewer. I suggest you go into this documentary completely blank. Don't look up the case details beforehand - you can thank me later!