[REVIEW] – Devil’s Knot

Director: Atom Egoyan (Chloe)

Starring: Colin Firth, Reese Witherspoon, Kevin Durand, Dane DeHaan

Certificate: 15

Run-time: 114 minutes

https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/OJFFcIQgPfI&source=uds

IN SHORT: Devil’s Knot takes an extraordinary true story and gives it an extra ordinary adaptation. Very mediocre.

Devil’s Knot documents the extremely disturbing case of the brutal murder of three young boys in West Memphis, USA. After a thorough search, the bodies were found; their feet and hands bound by their own shoelaces. The case, which became known as the West Memphis Three, became infamous however, when the local police convicted a group of young metal-heads for the crime. Despite a gross lack of substantial evidence, the West Memphis police were adamant in demonising these outcasts, even going as far as losing key DNA samples that could’ve put their innocence in doubt.

True crime fans hoping for a tense thriller will be bitterly disappointed as the majority of Devil’s Knot is set in the sterile, bland confines of a court-room. The movie is framed through the eyes of two characters; Pam Hobbs (Reese Witherspoon) is an inconsolable mother of one of the victims and Ron Lax (Colin Firth) is a curious independent lawyer who decides to take on the case of these young men, pro bono. Firth tries his very best American accent and for the most part it’s passable. However, his character constantly sits on the periphery of the film. Like an uncomfortable fly on the wall, his constant staring and long walks in the forest never truly affect the narrative. You could take Ron Lax out of the film and the result would still be the same.

As a dramatisation, Devil’s Knot isn’t too successful. A grim documentary-like realism is adopted, which is effective in the beginning as we watch the police search through the thick boggy river that engulfs the town. And the imagery of the children being cradled out of the muddy depths is a horrifying one. But once the film settles into the formula of a court-room drama, the tension and terror gives way to laborious trials and over-simplified character development. The true saving grace are the teenage actors, in particular James Hamrick who plays the main culprit Damien, a quiet, long-haired outsider who seems to revel in the attention until he realises just how serious these allegations are. Rising star, Dane DeHaan also turns up as a suspect but his 15-minute cameo is unsatisfying.

Overall, Devil’s Knot is stifled by its restraint and form. A two-hour dramatisation of a decade-long case is inevitably going to take liberties with the source but lazy writing can’t be excused. The West Memphis Three case was a complex, confusing and emotionally harrowing ordeal for everyone involved but Atom Egoyan’s condensed adaptation is too tepid and fragmented to give a true reflection of reality. Plenty of documentaries (the Paradise Lost trilogy being the most reputable) have tackled this fascinating saga with the competency and accuracy it deserves. Unfortunately, Devil’s Knot takes an extraordinary true story and gives it an extra ordinary adaptation.