Watching the documentary series Making a Murderer (2015-2018) eight years after its premiere, I am late to join the crowd of its admirers. Nevertheless, just one episode in, the story is engrossing. Making a Murderer is often compared to podcast
Serial (2014), another landmark piece of investigative journalism, and it is a story similarly told with a great deal of expertise.
The first episode introduces us to
Steven Avery, a Wisconsin man wrongfully committed for sexual assault and attempted murder. It would take eighteen years for the verdict to be overturned, with the advances in DNA analysis making that possible. Apart from the premise, what makes the documentary especially interesting is its treatment of the subject matter: the film-makers share the personal circumstances of the people involved, while also acknowledging the wider social dynamics at play.
As with Serial, the lasting appeal of Making a Murderer promises to lie in the in-depth examination of the local law enforcement and judicial structures. There is the particular case of Steven Avery, and then there is the application of the system to it - one may be very different to Avery, yet the same machinery applies to all citizens.
Another angle provided by this documentary is the illustration of the kind of America often absent in film. Where so much of what one knows of the States comes carefully curated and filtered through Hollywood, for a non-American audience this insight can be new and interesting. I have found it to be the case.
It is worth mentioning that the episode finishes on a cliffhanger, for the story is about to get even more complicated that it initially seemed.