In 2007 , Amanda Knox , then a 20 - twelvemonth - old linguistics major at the University of Washington , decide to spend her junior twelvemonth studying afield in Perugia , Italy . As she explains inAmanda Knox , a new documentarymaking its Netflix debut on Friday , " I matte like it was very important for me to get out of my comfort geographical zone and see if that made me turn into an adult . "
The experience did do Knox to mature up , but not in ways she ’d expected : the Seattle native was accused of murdering her British housemate Meredith Kercher and spent the better part of four years catch in the Italian judicial organization , much of it in prison .
The Netflix infotainment focuses mostly on the prospicient - term damage visit on Knox by the sensationalistic media coverage of her test , and how the 29 - year - old ’s desire to lead a quiet life in Seattle after being to the full acquitted of all actus reus is a day-to-day challenge . Here are six more things to look for when you watch the film ( which you absolutely should ) .
Amanda Knox|Netflix
Knox wasn’t the only suspect in the messy trial
In addition to Knox , prosecutor Giuliano Mignini shoot down two more the great unwashed with Kercher ’s execution : Raffaele Sollecito , an Italian who was briefly Knox ’s boyfriend ; and Rudy Guede , an Ivory Coast - born acquaintance of her downstairs neighbour . Although only Guede ’s DNA was found in Kercher ’s bedroom – where she was sexually assaulted and stabbed in the neck – Mignini used DNA regain on a knife in Sollecito ’s kitchen and Kercher ’s unkept brassiere clasp to incriminate the pair .
Guede was tried first in " profligate - track " proceedings , and initially sentenced to 30 years in prison house before an prayer trim it to 16 class . Knox and Sollecito ’s criminal journeying was far more convoluted , and they were convict in December 2009 . Their ruling was overturned in October 2011 , take into account Knox give way home , and later , in January 2014 , they were reconvicted . Finally , Italy ’s Supreme Court definitively behave Knox and Sollecito in March 2015 , citing " stunning flaw " in the investigating and " a gross lack of biological traces " linking them to the criminal offence scene .
Despite many melodramatic editing choices, the film offers unparalleled access to its subjects
Blackhurst and McGinn set out working on this documentary in 2011 . After two - plus years of building trust with Knox , they convinced her to tell her story on tv camera . She comes across as extremely ego - aware – after all , she did spend year isolated from gild , probably intend about how she ’d answer such question – maintaining her innocence but courting electrical shock value by wonder aloud , " If I am shamefaced , it intend that I am the ultimate number to reverence , because I ’m not the obvious one . "
Next , Sollecito gibe to talk , as did Mignini , the military man who ordered their arrest . The fact that the director got memory access to all three party is Brobdingnagian , and with the additions of a journalist , a duo of deoxyribonucleic acid expert , and Guede ’s lawyer , you ’ve got a well - rounded doc . Through Blackhurst and McGinn ’s genus Lens , we ’re even privy to the second Knox learns that she is finally free – they were in her plate on the day the Supreme Court verdict was announced . When we watch Knox bear a congratulatory phone call from Sollecito , you gain that though they only spent five days together as a couple prior to Kercher ’s execution , they are always bonded by being the only two masses on the planet who endured eight year of summersault - flopping finding of fact for a criminal offence .
The celluloid is n’t perfect : the melodic choices are heavy - handed ( tango beats when we ’re secern why this was such a scintillating story , violins - under - duress when Kercher ’s last minutes are draw ) , as are the visual metaphors . Mignini confabulate a Christian church to remind us that dead on target judgement happens at the pearly gate , and we last see Knox looking out onto unresolved water – her journeying continues , and she will proceed with caution against life-time ’s waves .
And Blackhurst and McGinn ’s issue will no doubt cringe at a few compeer - ups made in the editing elbow room : Knox – who is not the someone currently in gaol for Kercher ’s demise – is premise in a vocalization - over that accompany images of the dupe ’s roue smeared on the floor ; journalist Nick Pisa ’s comparison between write a front - varlet story and having sex abruptly terminate with footage of the flush - strew new wave carrying Kercher ’s coffin to her funeral .
at long last , though , the movie organizes the event ’s convoluted detail in a fashion that makes them easy to parse , even for those of us who did n’t follow the trials and ingathering closely in real time .
Journalism schools across the globe should screenAmanda Knoxas a cautionary tale
Though he seems proud of to have been have , formerDaily Mailwriter Pisa has the unfortunate chore of represent every press phallus who covered the backwash of Kercher ’s murder in Perugia . For the most part , the media behaved horrendously during this assignment – this flick proffer fantastic instructions for how not to act , particularly when a house is mourn their baby .
In the digital long time , reporters must now keep up with a 24 - hour news cycle and write click - worthy headlines . The more the public translate about Amanda Knox , the more that they wanted to read . Police and prosecutors tried to control the narrative , leaking the information that they hoped would sway public popular opinion . And the press printed what they were tell , even complete fabrication , including the false revealing that Knox tested positive for HIV during her prison house aesculapian test .
" It ’s not as if I can say , ' Right , hold on a minute , I just require to double - check that myself in some other fashion ' – I have in mind , good know how – and I ’ll permit my challenger get in there first before me and then , hey , I ’ve recede the soap , " says Pisa , who has apparently never heard of fact - checking and will risk ruining the repute of confused 20 - somethings . " It does n’t work like that , not in the news game . "
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No matter how badly you muck up an international murder investigation, you can still get a promotion in Italy
Mignini admits in the film that 24 hour into the fount , " Undoubtedly , I started to suspect Amanda " ( throughout the cinema , Knox is almost always addressed by her cozy first name , while her X is visit by his surname – casual sexism at its finest ) . Among his reasons : Kercher ’s trunk was found covered up , which Mignini interpreted as a final paternal act ; when the police first cordoned off the offence conniption , she and Sollecito " were comforting each other with an fondness inappropriate for the import " ; and when Knox was brought into her kitchen for loose questioning the next day , she covered her ears like there was " retentiveness of a noise , a sound , a shriek . Meredith ’s scream , " Mignini says .
Then there was the knife and the bra clasp . A knife that seemed to resemble the size and shape of the murder arm was find with Knox ’s deoxyribonucleic acid on the handle , and police force said Kercher ’s desoxyribonucleic acid was on the blade . However , during the first appeal , forensic experts attributed the miniscule presence of Kercher ’s desoxyribonucleic acid on the blade to pollution – police after admitted that 50 pieces of victim - related evidence were probe in the lab at the same clip .
Meanwhile , in video footage filmed the twenty-four hour period after the dead body ’s find , we see Kercher ’s bra clasp on the floor , ripped from the garment . And yet the brassiere clutches was not officially found and catalog as evidence for another 46 day , having been obscured by a rug . When the clasp was bump , Sollecito ’s DNA was on it , along with the deoxyribonucleic acid of two other man , something police neglected to account . At that full point , as we see in the infotainment , many the great unwashed had limit animal foot in the crime panorama , sans hazmat suits and shoe covering ; in the investigation ’s former hours , we even watch a woman kick in a door ’s Methedrine window to unlock it from within .
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Still , Mignini ’s hometown greet him like a hoagy for his criminal prosecution of Kercher ’s alleged killers . At the remnant of the flick , we ’re notified that Mignini has since been promote .
Amanda Knox’s dad is the real hero
When we ’re first introduce to Curt Knox , he ’s croak the courtroom accompany his daughter ’s first conviction . concourse of reporter and photographers surround the kinsfolk , and when one paparazzo gets too snug , Mr. Knox shoves him out of the fashion . Yes , it ’s fast-growing , but by the film ’s end , when you see the interrogation he ’s had to manage with , Mr. Knox can do no wrong – he ’s just a man trying to protect his daughter .
On his lawn back in Seattle , Knox does a curt Q&A with extremity of the press . At the expectation of picture offers for Amanda , he answers , " That ’s not our focus at this time . Our focus is her well - being . " Then , Mr. Knox is informed by a supposedly helpful gentleman , " She ’s not such a hot dimension in an interview terminal figure if you wait a month . " " Um , I ’m not looking at her as a hot property , " Mr. Knox replies with an insupportable amount of free grace .
If you insult the Italian justice system, expect a sick burn from a lawyer named Biscotti
Guede ’s lawyer , Walter Biscotti ( really ) , has no qualms about his determination to essay his client one by one , knowing that Knox and Sollecito would both blame Guede if the triad divvy up a trial . Admittedly , though , " It bother me that the American media lectured us about the law , " he says on screen , teeing up this gem : " This courthouse , in 1308 , housed the first faculty of law in Europe . In America in 1308 , they were drawing buffaloes in cave . "
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