Gruesome crime turned into artful series
By CRISTIN THOMAS
SNN Staff Writer
The Innocent Man is a six-part docuseries released on Netflix based on the true-crime book by John Grisham, which is based on the very real murders that took place in Ada, Okla., in the 1980s.
The name of the show comes from the fact that there were two murders in Ada, one in 1982 and one in 1984. Two men went to prison for the ’82 murder and two men went to prison for the ’84 murder, but all are claiming they’re innocent.
This series caught my attention with its trailer, which was most likely relying on the shock factor of this case, and let me say it worked. In the trailer, Ron Williamson, one of the wrongly-accused men, stands at a podium as a judge asks, “How close did you come to being executed?” Williamson responds, “Five days.”
So, it is safe to say that I was instantly intrigued, and that teaser did a fantastic job at setting the tone for the series. This series is incredibly sad and dark, but then again most true crime shows are.
The series is directed by Clay Tweel, who has directed mostly documentaries and a couple short films. He should be in charge of more series because the atmosphere he created with the cinematographer in the re-creations was beautiful and haunting. His direction is close, and the viewer is always in someone’s personal space, which leads to everything in the show taking on a much more meaningful nature than if it were directed from a distance. Because of the close proximity viewers feel like they are there.
This works incredibly well in one scene about the abduction of Denise Haraway, who went missing and was presumed dead before her body was found. The close camera following her makes the audience feel like one of the bystanders who did nothing. The camerawork makes us feel like we could have done something, and it just makes it that much more sad.
Someone who works even harder than Tweel has to be Giacomo Ambrosini, the editor. I had no idea who he was before I started watching this, but I want to become more familiar with his work, because his editing made this show’s atmosphere pop. Sometimes there will be long cuts that will build tension and let the uneasiness creep onto you, but other times he will have fast, snappy cuts that leave a sense of disorientation to the viewer. He does the latter especially around the re-creations of the murders and it makes my stomach turn, because the way the film cuts it mirrors the violence onscreen.
Ambrosini created a unique experience that I haven’t seen with other true crime documentaries and he and Tweel worked great together. They did a great job at bringing the men and women’s lives to the small screen and I hope that they continue to do their work in series of this nature.
Overall, The Innocent Man was a captivating and heart wrenching rollercoaster, and I couldn’t recommend it enough if you have an interest in true crime documentaries. It whole-heartedly deserves a 9/10.