Movie Review - "Into the Abyss" (2011) ****

     I view movies as a nice way to escape reality for a couple of hours. We can put ourselves in a fantasy setting and forget our worries on the outside world, if only for a brief time. I would guess this is also the case with the majority of the movie-going public. It's for this reason that I think documentaries get a bad rap from the general public and are often avoided like the plague unless they are made by someone who is in the public conscience, like Michael Moore. Documentaries make us think and perhaps even question things that we believe in, or thought we believed in. I fully admit that I avoided documentaries for many years, I associated them with the word boredom. Why did I do that? No reason. I heard other people with that opinion and just assumed they were right. But I eventually came around and started giving some of them a shot and because of that, I have found that I generally enjoy documentaries a lot. I still don't seek out as many as I probably should, but I try and sneak one in there every month or so, just to mix things up a bit from the basic rabble that is floating around out there. I encourage you to do the same if you find yourself in the boat that I mentioned above. Into the Abyss, the latest film from acclaimed filmmaker Werner Herzog, is the most recent in a string of excellent documentaries that I have seen recently (The Interrupters, Waiting for Superman, The Cove).

     With Into the Abyss, Herzog tells the story of a horrific triple-homicide that occurred in Conroe, Texas in October of 2001. Two young men, Michael Perry and Jason Burkett, brutally murdered 50-year old nurse Sandra Stotler in her home as she baked cookies. Why? She owned a nice red corvette that the boys wanted to take joyriding. Later, Stotler's teenage son, Adam, and his friend Jeremy Richardson, were also murdered by Perry and Burkett when they arrived to the neighborhood. Perry received a death sentence for his role in the crimes while Burkett received a life sentence, a fact that is touched upon in the movie as one of the questions surrounding the legal system. There are numerous interviews with detectives and police who worked on the case, including actual crime scene video, as well as interviews with family members of the victims and the accused. Herzog's biggest coup though is to get interviews with both Perry and Burkett, with Perry's interview coming just 8 days before he is to be executed by lethal injection. Both accused blame the other for the crime but their side of the story is never given. From everything we have seen, the guilt of the two men is not in question, but they each blame the other without denying involvement. We also get an interview in prison with Burkett's father who is serving a life sentence himself. It is during this interview where we learn why Burkett was not given the death penalty along with Perry, and how something so small can sway a jury one way or the other. For me, it was clear that Herzog was making an anti-capitol punishment film here, but he doesn't beat you over the head with it. He subtly states his case, most obviously in the interview segments with former Captain Fred Allen, who led the Huntsville Prison death row for many years, overseeing over 100 executions. He states very matter-of-factly what happens during an execution and how seemless of a procedure it really is. But Allen was eventually overcome with emotion following one execution and quit his job, forfeiting his pension. It's in Allen's testimony that we see that sentencing someone to death not only affects the accused, but everyone around them.

     Into the Abyss is a wonderful film but as with many documentaries, a lot of what you may think of it depends on where you stand on the subject being raised. One thing I try to do with statement movies like this is to separate myself from my beliefs and make sure my mind remains open at all times. I am not going to state where I stand on the death penalty, I have my thoughts on it, but it's irrelevant to this review. How is the story told, that's the only thing I cared about, and no matter what I feel about the subject I feel Herzog did a great job of telling the story and keeping me interested in it. I cared about the people in this movie, for the most part at least. The film has received generally positive reviews but the negative reactions toward it seem to suggest this is a longer version of a Dateline or A Current Affair episode. I respect those opinions but disagree with them. There is way more depth here I feel. The crime scene stuff itself is played out pretty basic, but the reactions being captured of the those affected is top notch stuff. I give Into the Abyss a high recommendation. If you continue to shy away from documentaries, I understand your concerns, but encourage you to expand a little bit and give some of these a try.