[Review] Devil’s Knot (2013)

cast: Colin Firth, Reese Witherspoon, Dane DeHaan, Stephen Moyer, Amy Ryan, Elias Koteas
director: Atom Egoyan

“Devil’s Knot” had all the premises to shake and stir the movie-goers with the true story of the West Memphis Three, the screenplay being based on Mara Leveritt’s 2002 book. What happened with Atom Egoyan movie is that it took a turn for worse becoming a light Lifetime afternoon movie instead of bold adaptation of what happens when ignorance and paranoia join hands and decide to point fingers.

In 1993, three boys, Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore were found murdered, the police stating the gruesome act is the work of a Satanic cult. What followed was close to a Salem witch trial with the police turning the investigation into a trial of the misfits in the small city in West Memphis. The movie doesn’t take too much time to give us the full picture instead making a slow and steady pace of a straight line of the events with no substance.

The movie genre has many court and trial dramas but “Devil’s Knot” suffers from the lack of acting and poor casting choice. Let’s take Reese Witherspoon as Pamela Hobbs, the mother of one of the murdered boys, the celebrated actress is plain and emotionless with a performance worthy of the lowest Lifetime pictures. It’s painful to watch Witherspoon show little to no acting chops but the worse is yet to come with Colin Firth as Ron Lax. His character is a shadow, lingering from across the room, stating platitudes and sad glances. It raises the question why Stephen Moyer hasn’t been given this part and presented with more lines. The true murder of this movie is the flat line performances delivered by the actors.

Dane DeHaan is the obvious choice of a shady character and James Hamrick’s brooding looks is a home run for Damien Echols. Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr. were the outcasts and here presented as the murdereers, “Devil’s Knot” doesn’t take sides, it’s sympathetic to the families who lost those small boys and doesn’t make a case in favour of the three young men put on trial. The shadows remain on the truth of what happened. It makes one cringe seeing how the police took as a solid evidence the fantasy tale delivered by a child. The fact that the procedures were ignored and solid evidence was cast aside in favor of punishing a group of boys who were different.

As poor as the movie is, the facts remains a well as the ugly truth about prejudice and ignorance. If you’re different you’re shady, you dress in strange clothes, you don’t fit in the community you live, you’re pointed out and wanted out. The Salem trials are an ugly page in our history, the Monkey trial is another good show of how ignorance is alive and well and in 1993, fear and paranoia had made a home in that little town. The fact remains that three small children were killed in a vicious way and the ones (or one) who did this is free.

Atom Egoyan had a strong opportunity in his hands to make a good movie but he missed it. Maybe this gruesome tale should be taken to a bold TV station. Showtime, HBO could make something better that this bland big screen attempt.

Edge and Back: 5/10