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Ramiya Jaswal

Professor Kari Carter

English 1101

18 October, 2016

Amanda Knox

Imagine being accused or being charged and held accountable for something you didnt

do. Many of us couldnt relate because if we are blamed or falsely accused we say the simple

words, I didnt do it, and are able to get away or automatically prove it. But what if it wasnt

that easy for everybody. In the documentary Amanda Knox, Amanda Knox takes it in her hands

to speak about her innocence after being accused and held accountable for the murder of

Meredith Kercher.

From the chilling scenes and pictures of the crime scene where Meredith Kerchers

murder took place to the intense clips of interviews with Amanda Knox and her relation to the

murder, those are just few of the many reasons which made this documentary so provocative and

hard to not finish. Aside the immediate gruesome scenes of the crime scene at the beginning of

the documentary it was difficult to not grasp the beautiful panoramic view and scenes of Perugia,

Italy which were shown time after time through the documentary. As a viewer you tend to think

why would the maker of the documentary include such positive scenes in a documentary about

murder? These specific scenes make the viewer think that a crime so horrible seems out of place

at what seems to be a calm and nice town. The black and white visuals in the beginning over

Amanda being interviewed on her innocence and being questioned repeatedly make the specific

parts of the documentary even more intense and grasp the viewers attention to another level.
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Also the sorrowful violin music playing in the background followed by visuals and scenes of

family of the murdered girl after they found out what had happened give of a sad tone to the

viewer and feeling of sorrow and condolence. Although much of documentary includes people

from Italy speaking in Italian, the English subtitles make it easy to understand and comprehend

what they are saying.

Amanda along with her boyfriend Rafaelle are both interviewed until they both break

down and Amanda does the unthinkable by admitting to the police that she may have

remembered some details about the murder. Rafaelle on the other hand turns on Amanda. This

part of the documentary is quite different than the rest because it is the one part where not

everyone is on the same page and its a lot of he said she said. Following the confessions are

scenes of Amandas family coming to visit her. The concern and empathy the mother of Amanda

shows towards her makes the viewer question why the mother is so sympathetic to her daughter

who may be a part of a murder.

The constant use of flashbacks of Amanda Knox and her boyfriend at the time of the

murder in 2007 to present day today in 2016 when the documentary was filmed shows the viewer

that no matter what knowledge they gain on the Amanda Knox case through this documentary at

the end Amanda is now innocent. Some may agree with this decision after viewing the film and

some may believe otherwise. There is a heavy section of the film that shows visuals of proof and

evidence at the time of the murder which make the viewer double think the innocence of

Amanda.

However, out of the many positive features of this film one aspect of the film that I

noticed from the beginning to end that I didnt agree with was the humor and jokes made related

to the murder and those that were accused. The viewer sees laughter along with hearing the
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taunting music playing in the back when the jokes are made. This humorous and foolish tone in

certain parts of the documentary made it go straight from serious to not no serious. It was almost

as if the journalist making the jokes were mocking the concept of death and murder.

Towards the end of the documentary the viewer gets chills when they hear the verdict of

the judge in which he says that Amanda and her boyfriend Raffaelle were found guilty in the

murder of Meredith Kercher. Again the haunting background music and black and white visual

of the judge speaking makes the telling of the verdict just that much more intense. At this point

the viewer is now questioning what possibly couldve happened that finally proves Amandas

innocence.

This documentary covered a topic that in present day today is also very popular and still

occurs on a daily basis. Innocent people are accused of crimes and things that they didnt do and

some with time are able to prove their innocence but some dont get that lucky and have to suffer

for something they didnt do. Amanda shows that sometimes you seem to be in a position in

which you feel that its impossible to get out of but with time she was able to show and prove her

innocence. She is able to clear most of any confusion or question one had of her involvement in

the murder of Meredith. But there are those viewers that probably are still questioning whether

her innocence is real or not. Lastly she is able to expand on the concept of innocence not just

hers but anyone that would be in a position that she was in and how it is to be accused but then

finally be released from a crime or something you didnt commit. Overall the documentary was

highly informative, very interesting, and keeps the viewer hooked from the beginning to the end.
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Amanda Knox. Dir. Rod Blackhurst and Brian McGinn. Netflix/Amanda Knox. Netflix,

n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.