At the beginning, American newscasters briefly comment about the dramatic Amanda Knox murder trial. Anderson Cooper blurts out that Knox is a victim and talks about the "Italian media that was stacked against her." These comments set the tone as the Italian postal police (not the carabinieri or the law enforcement police) arrive at the residence of Amanda Knox in Perugia.
On the surface, American Amanda Knox (Hayden Panettiere) was an intelligent and pretty honor roll student. In September 2007, at the age of twenty, she arrived in Perugia, Italy to study languages at the Foreigners' University (Università per Stranieri). With three other young women, she rented an upstairs flat in a countryside house. The other girls were two Italians and British student Meredith Kercher (Amanda Fernando Stevens). While the young women seemed to get along initially, tension brewed between studious Meredith and Amanda over the latter's sexual and hygiene habits. In October, Amanda met Raffaele Sollecito (Paolo Romio), a young Italian man studying computer engineering, and they became lovers almost immediately. Raffaele called her a free spirit: she was sexually promiscuous and smoked weed.
On 1 November 2007 Meredith is found brutally murdered in the locked bathroom of the shared house. The investigative police found various people's actions suspicious, especially the flaws in the alibis which both Amanda and Raffaele had provided. When prosecutor Guiliano Mignini (Vincent Riotta) analyzed the crime scene, he immediately recognized that the "break-in" at one of the bedrooms was staged. After a bloodied fingerprint from African (Ivory Coast) Rudy Guede (Djibril Kébé) was found in the bathroom (his DNA was all over the victim's bedroom), he was arrested in Germany. He opted for a quick trial and was found guilty of murder; he received a 30-year prison sentence (that was later reduced). But Amanda and Raffaele apparently knew something that they did not tell. As Amanda especially had contradictions in her version, the police did not believe her. With events turning against Amanda, her parents, Curt (Clive Walton) and Amanda (Marcia Gay Harden), spent their resources and mounted a blistering campaign against prosecutor Mignini and even the Italian legal system. (They later faced criminal charges of slander in absentia.) The first verdict went against Amanda and Raffaele, who received initial sentences of 26 and 25 years, respectively. Then the verdict was overturned on appeal.
Loaded with dramatizations and flashbacks, the movie does not always make the case clearly. And some facts may not be accurately presented. Whether Amanda was guilty or not guilty is the viewer's option, although it is almost certain that she was in the house on that fateful November night. Was Amanda culpable? Was she or was she not in Raffaele's apartment on the night of Meredith's murder? Why did she initially lie when she said her boss Patrick Lamumba at Le Chic murdered Meredith? Lumumba's skin was saved when his alibi was later confirmed. This author will pass no judgment based upon a movie, although it is thought-provoking. In general, it appears that – despite some mistakes – the Italian forensics and investigative analyses were exhaustive. Italy is a foreign country, after all, with different laws than we do. Its robust culture and society long predate our own.
As the TV movie, made in 2011, does not end the story, several updates to 2014 appear at film's end. Even then, there was a final verdict later (Supreme Court of Cassation, 2015). The final court did not actually clear Amanda, but rather stated that there was not enough evidence to convict her. Mercifully, the case can never go to trial again. Picturesque filming occurred in Rome, not Perugia. There are many fine performances, especially by Hayden Panettiere, Marcia Gay Harden, and Vincent Riotta.
On the surface, American Amanda Knox (Hayden Panettiere) was an intelligent and pretty honor roll student. In September 2007, at the age of twenty, she arrived in Perugia, Italy to study languages at the Foreigners' University (Università per Stranieri). With three other young women, she rented an upstairs flat in a countryside house. The other girls were two Italians and British student Meredith Kercher (Amanda Fernando Stevens). While the young women seemed to get along initially, tension brewed between studious Meredith and Amanda over the latter's sexual and hygiene habits. In October, Amanda met Raffaele Sollecito (Paolo Romio), a young Italian man studying computer engineering, and they became lovers almost immediately. Raffaele called her a free spirit: she was sexually promiscuous and smoked weed.
On 1 November 2007 Meredith is found brutally murdered in the locked bathroom of the shared house. The investigative police found various people's actions suspicious, especially the flaws in the alibis which both Amanda and Raffaele had provided. When prosecutor Guiliano Mignini (Vincent Riotta) analyzed the crime scene, he immediately recognized that the "break-in" at one of the bedrooms was staged. After a bloodied fingerprint from African (Ivory Coast) Rudy Guede (Djibril Kébé) was found in the bathroom (his DNA was all over the victim's bedroom), he was arrested in Germany. He opted for a quick trial and was found guilty of murder; he received a 30-year prison sentence (that was later reduced). But Amanda and Raffaele apparently knew something that they did not tell. As Amanda especially had contradictions in her version, the police did not believe her. With events turning against Amanda, her parents, Curt (Clive Walton) and Amanda (Marcia Gay Harden), spent their resources and mounted a blistering campaign against prosecutor Mignini and even the Italian legal system. (They later faced criminal charges of slander in absentia.) The first verdict went against Amanda and Raffaele, who received initial sentences of 26 and 25 years, respectively. Then the verdict was overturned on appeal.
Loaded with dramatizations and flashbacks, the movie does not always make the case clearly. And some facts may not be accurately presented. Whether Amanda was guilty or not guilty is the viewer's option, although it is almost certain that she was in the house on that fateful November night. Was Amanda culpable? Was she or was she not in Raffaele's apartment on the night of Meredith's murder? Why did she initially lie when she said her boss Patrick Lamumba at Le Chic murdered Meredith? Lumumba's skin was saved when his alibi was later confirmed. This author will pass no judgment based upon a movie, although it is thought-provoking. In general, it appears that – despite some mistakes – the Italian forensics and investigative analyses were exhaustive. Italy is a foreign country, after all, with different laws than we do. Its robust culture and society long predate our own.
As the TV movie, made in 2011, does not end the story, several updates to 2014 appear at film's end. Even then, there was a final verdict later (Supreme Court of Cassation, 2015). The final court did not actually clear Amanda, but rather stated that there was not enough evidence to convict her. Mercifully, the case can never go to trial again. Picturesque filming occurred in Rome, not Perugia. There are many fine performances, especially by Hayden Panettiere, Marcia Gay Harden, and Vincent Riotta.