ThiefHott Too much of everything

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

NikkiHassinger This was completely a biased tale of a bizarre man that ultimately is painstakingly unsatisfying. The editing is atrocious and could have been trimmed at least by half and knowing that he had a 15 year relationship with the films editor completely discredits this film among many other things.

kitellis-98121 In 1980, a woman in Australia became the centre of a media storm when she claimed that her baby had been taken by a dingo. The Australian public, led by a vicious and frenzied media, agreed amongst themselves that she had killed the baby as part of some obscure religious cult - because the baby was wearing a black dress!There was no evidence, other than a missing baby and an odd-seeming couple. But everyone felt that the mother was cold and didn't display the proper signs of grief.So, based on nothing but assumptions and some very shoddy police work, she was sent to prison. After multiple unsuccessful appeals, in 1986 a crucial piece of evidence was discovered and the mother was released for a new trial. In 1988 she was fully exonerated. In 2012 a coroner finally ruled that the baby had been killed by a dingo. They made a film about it, starring Meryl Streep, but the baby was still dead and her parents had been cruelly tried by the media and imprisoned by an unjust and negligent judicial system.Ring any bells?The story of The Staircase is eerily similar. Based on little more than a localised predisposition to dislike and distrust anyone intellectual, bohemian, bisexual, or even mildly odd, the incompetent, corrupt, and immensely bigoted police department and prosecutors mounted a modern-day witch-hunt against a man who they felt must be guilty of murder, simply by virtue of being closeted and weird (as well as intellectual and bohemian, of course). The moronic, bigoted local media quickly jumped on the bandwagon, bringing with them a moronic and bigoted public.The sheer weight of reasonable doubt should have instantly exonerated the poor man, but the justice system proved, as usual, to be anything but, and the judge proved to be very nearly as useless and incompetent as everyone else involved. (Although he later admitted that this case had likely been a vast miscarriage of justice).The unprecedented access given to the documentary crew throughout the trial makes for an exceptionally in-depth viewer experience. In stark contrast with the standard available material from a murder trial, which is almost entirely provided by a biased and unreliable news media, in this case we get a rare opportunity to follow the story from the inside, with an exceptional close-up view of the accused murderer through every stage of mounting his defence.Having followed his case this closely, I find him innocent of all charges. Unfortunately I am in the minority. Seeing the way he was treated by the so-called judicial system, and how many reviewers of the documentary are still convinced of his guilt - despite a staggering lack of evidence that should at the very least raise "reasonable doubt" - I find myself wondering if we are all still living in 1980's Australia!

jerkassstore I agree with a couple of reviews below. Firstly, this thing is dragged out. Secondly, I guess it was made in partnership, in some way, with the defense so really focuses on Peterson's side of the story without really giving a fair focus on the prosecution's side. Peterson did also come across to me as, not only a narcissist, but a raging sociopath. The defense is pretty flimsy. I mean, really how in the hell could a human gush so much blood from falling down some stairs? Has that ever happened in history? The defense makes a point that in a blunt trauma beating there is always some kind of fracture or whatever. Who cares!? Maybe Peterson didn't cause blunt trauma with the blow poke. He could've used a raking motion or something to cause lacerations. Stuff like that isn't explained and I don't understand why. My feelings is that the prosecution didn't have quite enough evidence to convict Peterson without a reasonable doubt but at the same time the defense IS pretty flimsy.In any case we're dealing with raging sociopaths, motivated probably by money. Once the victim found out her husband was banging gay guys, most likely some kind of monetary consequence was revealed, divorce or whatnot. While at the same time we have idiotic prosecutors with their lying and evidence tampering to prosecute Peterson at any cost. But really, who's kidding who. He did it. Peterson's guilty. Period. I mean, maybe he didn't do it. Maybe it was a ghost, right? There's no way in hell all that blood was caused by a stair fall. No way.

wwvvww-423-766900 This was one of the most biast programs I have ever watched. There's no way you can come to decision of guilty or innocent from watching this when it's made so much for the defence. The only thing it proves is that the American justice system is money driven, if you ain't got any your going down and nobody gives a toss.