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Aileen: The Life and Death of a Serial Killer (2003)
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Reviews Counted:57
Fresh:49
Rotten:8
Average Rating:7.1/10
Consensus: This chilling, unsettling documentary provides an eye-opening look at both Wuornos and the American justice system.
Theatrical Release:Jan 9, 2004 Limited
Synopsis: Sensationalist director Nick Broomfield delivers his most personal film with this bracing, powerful sequel to 1992's AILEEN WUORNOS: THE SELLING OF A SERIAL KILLER. Ten years after making that... Sensationalist director Nick Broomfield delivers his most personal film with this bracing, powerful sequel to 1992's AILEEN WUORNOS: THE SELLING OF A SERIAL KILLER. Ten years after making that film, Broomfield returns to the story of America's first female serial killer, who murdered seven truck drivers over the course of 12 months in Florida, requested execution as punishment, and on October 9, 2002 was put to death. Broomfield's film shows Aileen's final appeal before her execution and identifies a whole new set of problems in reviewing her testimony. For one, Aileen contradicted her initial claim that she killed the truck drivers in self defense, stating instead that she murdered them in cold blood. Also, Broomfield realized that Aileen was potentially insane. Somehow, Florida governor Jeb Bush ignored this possibility and accepted her request for execution. After interviewing several of her closest companions, Broomfield sat down with Aileen herself for her final interview, in which she accuses law enforcement officials of knowing about her killing spree and not stopping it. While Broomfield has been criticized for being too active a participant in his films, this time it is warranted. His strong connection to Aileen turns the film into a deeply personal meditation on the life of a truly troubled individual and a scathing attack on America's corrupt justice system. [More]
Starring: Aileen Wuornos, Nick Broomfield
Starring: Aileen Wuornos, Nick Broomfield
Director: Nick Broomfield, Joan Churchill
Director: Nick Broomfield, Joan Churchill
Producer: Jo Human
Studio: Lantern Lane Entertainment
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Reviews for Aileen: The Life and Death of a Serial Killer
Broomfield is mostly just shooting from the hip and missing as much as he scores
Told what to think, the viewer is distanced by film acknowleging its film-ness.
It's clear Theron didn't so much resemble [Wuornos] as she did channel her deeply tormented soul, in a way that Broomfield never manages to do.
The filmmaker misses too many opportunities by focusing too much on himself.
Broomfield frequently seems as willing as his subject to indulge in conspiracy theories and there often exists the queasy hunch that his interest in her feeds her sickness.
Might have been a good film, except that Broomfield had the inside track. His films are, ultimately, always about the making of his films.
Broomfield is too fond of himself by half, and tilts the movie too much toward his personal objections to the death penalty.
Just as Broomfield's latest points a harsh light on those who profited from her death, so too does he stray into their territory, giving a broken woman one final humiliation.
Broomfield's voiceover commentary sounds like a bad Robin Leach impression at times, but his fascinating interviews with the real Wuornos elicit sympathy as well as a strong case of the heebie-jeebies.
[Broomfield] makes an entertaining and at times even compelling argument, whatever his topic.
Except for the sermonizing, altogether a deeper, more interesting movie than Monster.
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