The Menendez Brothers Review: Menendez Brothers Documentary Leaves a Bitter Taste
Created By: Alejandro Hartmann
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3/5 (three stars)
The Menendez Brothers is an interesting document both for those who are approaching this case for the first time and for those who have seen the series created by Ryan Murphy (which we told you about in our review): by painting the sociocultural context in which the events took place, Alejandro Hartmann’s documentary takes us back to the Beverly Hills of the 1980s, digging beyond the facade of incredible well-being experienced by its inhabitants. The series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story has been a huge success on Netflix and for this reason (as the platform has already done on several occasions in the past, both for Dahmer and for the killer nurse Charlie Cullen) we didn’t have to wait long for a documentary entirely dedicated to the case. The Menendez Brothers is a docufilm based on 20 hours of exclusive interviews with Lyle and Eric, who are still serving life sentences without the possibility of parole. This is the first time that the two have shared their story together.
Lyle and Erik Menendez have been on everyone’s lips since the series “Monsters” came out on Netflix. The two brothers sentenced to life in prison in 1996 for the murder of their own parents, José and Kitty Menendez, have become, in fact, two of the most popular characters of the moment, sparking a heated debate on the topic of male sexual abuse that is becoming increasingly large and seems to have even led to a turning point in the Menendez case that could lead to the two killers having their sentences reduced or, as Ryan Murphy, creator of the series, said, “being out of prison by Christmas”. As often happens when it comes to these cases, the public takes sides: are Erik and Lyle victims or executioners? Or are they both at the same time? Everyone is a psychologist, lawyer, and journalist, anyone can say, think, and have their own idea about the Menendez brother’s guilty, according to justice, of killing their parents. The topic is still so hot that, on October 7, 2024, the Netflix catalog is enriched with a new title, the documentary The Menendez Brothers by Alejandro Hartmann, which sees Erik and Lyle speak for the first time, directly from their cells.
The Menendez Brothers Review: The Story Plot
The Menendez Brothers open with a brief description of the case – the brutal murder of the couple José and Kitty Menendez at the hands of their two children – and then move directly to the trial that saw Lyle and Eric as protagonists, and to the exploration of the family context in which the two boys grew up, trying to establish the possible roots of such violence. The basis of the criminal behavior of the two Menendez brothers would be the terrible abuse, both physical and emotional, suffered in the family. The reconstruction of the trial is the focal point of the film. It allows us to see the real counterparts of all those characters we met during the series, from Eric’s lawyer Leslie Abramson to Lyle’s Jill Lansing, to the psychologist Jerome Oziel, to his lover Judalon Smyth. All the voices that collaborated to create the “myth” of The Menendez Brothers, a pair of murderers who, almost thirty years after their conviction, have managed to catalyze the interest not only of the American public but also of the rest of the world.
The Menendez Brothers Review and Analysis
Everyone seems to have their own opinion on the Menendez case after watching Ryan Murphy’s series where, let’s remember, the story of how Lyle and Erik killed their parents was told in the form of narrative fiction with two actors, Nicholas Chavez and Cooper Koch, who played the two brothers from Beverly Hills respectively. And now, after only two weeks from the debut of the series, Netflix has decided to go back to betting everything on the brothers who at the age of 21 or 18 killed their parents in cold blood by shooting them several times with a rifle in their villa, with a documentary film ” The Menendez Brothers “, available from October 7, where, to tell their version of the facts, only Lyle and Erik themselves together with many of the people involved in the trial and this terrible story.
This is not the first time that Netflix has proceeded with this modus operandi of proposing a fictionalized true crime series shortly after a documentary on the same subject. It happened with the series Dahmer about the cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer and then again with the film The Good Doctor about the killer nurse Charlie Cullen. Similarly, the one on The Menendez Brothers is a docufilm with which Netflix wanted to give a true crime story from a different point of view to push the viewers to ask themselves what their opinion is on the facts based on more tools and more information. But is this what happens with Alejandro Hartmann’s documentary on the story of Lyle and Erik Menendez? Is it an objective story that gives space to the different sides in a balanced and not unbalanced way? Or is it a documentary in favor of The Menendez Brothers who now seem to have become more celebrities than murderers? Watching it we had the impression that this documentary is decidedly biased and precisely for this reason not all that enjoyable. And the side that the scales tip the most is that of Lyle and Erik.
Judging from how the facts are presented to us, reconstructed by going back and forth in time, it is as if the director wanted to give a certain humanity to The Menendez Brothers, to justify in a certain sense their atrocious actions by focusing a lot on the debate related to the sexual abuse suffered, a theme never actually proven but which nowadays is having a very strong impact on the public, especially the very young. It is no coincidence that at the end of the film, a series of videos on TikTok is shown where many very young people stand up in defense of Lyle and Erik and even ask for their release as victims of abuse. A bit like what happened with the series on Yara Gambirasio, with this documentary on The Menendez Brothers it is as if they were trying to defend the brothers or insinuate doubts about the actual guilt of two people who, it must be remembered, the American judicial system already condemned 28 years ago.
The documentary’s setting is inevitably a bit biased towards the two brothers, almost taking for granted the theory of sexual abuse by their father (which, let’s remember, has never been proven). The impact of these two figures on contemporary audiences is more evident than ever from the end of the film, which shows a series of TikTok videos in which young people and very young people ask for the release of the Menendezes as victims of abuse. In any case, it is an interesting testimony of how social media is a catalyst for opinions that we absolutely cannot ignore nowadays, but it makes the documentary’s objective a bit nebulous. Is the important thing to narrate the facts or to prove one’s own theory and instill doubt in the viewer? That said, The Menendez Brothers is so rich in testimonies (even the prosecution attorney and a member of the jury at the time!) that it is undoubtedly a valuable product, for fans of the case and not; Alejandro Hartmann uses fast editing rhythm to his documentary, making it very enjoyable to watch, and in less than two hours he manages to summarize the story as best as possible.
The 20 hours of exclusive interviews with Lyle and Eric, if on the one hand, they inevitably end up pushing the needle of the scale towards the theory of abuse, are what elevate the film and make it a product not to be missed. If you are a true crime fan, do not miss The Menendez Brothers, but approach the viewing with the awareness that the narration is rather biased, and try to demonstrate a certain thesis. There is no doubt that the two brothers returned home one day to kill those who created them and they actually did it, what is already evident in the Netflix series, is narrated even more forcefully in the documentary because between the archive images and the voices of the protagonists we hear the killers remember that much of what happened that night has not been said and Erik states: “We were not the ones to tell the story of our lives. Two kids do not commit this crime for money”. The words of two men in their fifties are powerful and bring back from the memory of the days of violence suffered, the bewilderment for what a child and a boy should never suffer (even more so from a parent).
The Menendez Brothers also become a reflection on the concept of truth: the judicial one, the moral one, and the media one. Then there are Erik and Lyle who want, and they say it without mincing words, to make “their truth” known, to make their voices heard. We cannot help but wonder about the meaning of truth, about how much one can lie and how difficult it is to take a position in a case like this which cannot fail to stir the emotions and empathy of those who witness it. Hartmann once again probes and dissects the case, analyzing “decades of material relating to the crime and the subsequent trial”. On a timeline that appears on the screen, the most important dates are inserted and the events of a story that hurts and hurts no matter how you look at it are composed. Two children who kill their father and mother, two parents who used violence against them and remained silent, pretending not to see. Erik and Lyle’s fear and the fear of the two parents. No matter which side you are on and which way you look at the story, it is still a deeply unjust, dramatic, and difficult story to listen to.
The Menendez Brothers Review: The Last Words
The Menendez Brothers reconstruct everything with “scientific” rigor and a wealth of details and make those who have not spoken here. Inevitably the idea of hearing the voices and seeing the photos of the adults Erik and Lyle touches and disturbs. Inevitably one takes sides, two of the most popular characters of the moment – so much so that the case seems to be at a turning point, reducing the sentences of the two killers – who have sparked a debate on the subject of male sexual abuse are the protagonists of the story, it is a biased documentary, it has chosen who to listen to. The viewer listens, watches, collects the material, and tries to make his way through words, images, testimonies, and memories. The Menendez Brothers is full of voices and testimonies, including the extract of 20 hours of unpublished interviews with Lyle and Eric. Too bad that the author’s point of view is a bit biased and tries to demonstrate rather openly the thesis of abuse (which as we know has never been confirmed).
The Menendez Brothers Review: Menendez Brothers Documentary Leaves a Bitter Taste - Filmyhype
Director: Alejandro Hartmann
Date Created: 2024-10-07 19:49
3
Pros
- The film is very rich in voices and testimonies
- The rhythmic editing makes it very enjoyable
Cons
- The author's point of view seems to be very biased
