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2.0 out of 5 stars
"If you want to roast an Irishman ... ", December 2, 2011
WHO KILLED ATLANTA'S CHILDREN? (released as ECHO OF MURDER, writ./dir. Charles Robert Carner, 2000, 105 minutes, for Showtime television) is a sad sort of attempt at exposition of facts. In the most lackluster performances I've ever seen, Gregory Hines is Ron Larson and Jim Belushi is Pat Laughlin, "Spin" magazine reporters from New York, investigating the Atlanta child murders that occurred between 1979 and 1981. The trouble with films like these is the skill and cinematic considerations mean nothing compared to the subject. And that's always a license to do everything badly.
As some may recall - I vividly do - during a twenty-three month period between 1979 and 1981, over 30 black children, nearly all boys, were murdered in Atlanta. In July, 1980, after 14 children (possibly more) had been murdered, the mothers of some of the victims formed the Committee to Stop the Children's Murders. The group claimed genocide was taking place, and they gave the Atlanta PD a hard time. A child would disappear about every 25 days. People, especially residents of the Techwood housing project, believed the KKK was responsible.
This rattle-trap of a movie, then, follows our two intrepid investigators as they probe the killings, the APD, even the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in an effort to apparently exonerate Wayne Williams. It's sort of a pathetic ruse as presented here. What they discover is a KKK plot to start a race war, giving everyone an excuse to kill all blacks. They uncover GBI cover-ups, gagged agents, moles in the KKK and KKK moles among the authorities. The film is compelling, a bit of a horror show with the dead bodies shown, and somewhat tough to prove.
It doesn't help that the acting is so bad I actually shouted at the TV (then again I often do that). The cinematography is good, with some innovative details that have inspired filmmaking. Trouble is, the acting and the story don't bear under the weight. That is always the director's fault, and here you can see everyone was in a hurry to shoot the scene and get the hell out of Atlanta. Sad. Yet it is a story that interests, frightens and angers.
Is any of it at all true? I found news mentions of a large family, KKK members, who are portrayed in this film. They are believed to be the KKK death squad that tried to start a race war and may have murdered over 100 boys from 1979 to well beyond 1983. This is all speculation. Wayne Williams, the convicted killer, remains in jail serving consecutive life terms.
Not much is out there to study. In July 2000, snotty "Time" magazine reporter Richard Corliss wrote: "The case of the Atlanta child murders [in which] 29 young blacks killed ... was grisly, compelling and pertinent. So why isn't the tale of two "Spin" journalists, who later wrote a story implicating white racists in the crimes, a potent TV movie? Because Charles Robert Carner, the writer-director, blithely shuffles fact and innuendo ... his idea of cinematic action is to have people walk briskly and talk loudly while the camera jitters ... Because Gregory Hines and Jim Belushi, as the "Spin" sleuths, are ... cop-bad cop. And because the white suspects are yokels .... Your Honor, please, can we have a little order in this courtroom drama?" Well, no one can accuse Corliss of being Walter Cronkite or William Shakespeare.
Incredibly, all this has led to nothing but more theories. Hashed and rehashed, backward, silly theories. CNN reported in June of 2010 that 11 deaths were presented to the jury in Williams' trial. He wasn't charged, but he was convicted in the murder of two adults whose bodies were found in 1981.
CNN reported that Williams had to be guilty, simultaneously expressing the idea that it was hard to believe he was the only guilty party. It's Silly season again, and we cannot afford to play this type of kick-ball with such horrid crimes. In any case the film ends in 1992, with a GBI agent getting some heat for destroying evidence of a KKK sting (because he was a member). What I hated most is the film actually expresses the idea that it is presenting us with hard facts. Williams remains in jail.
So I say get this film, swallow hard and recall it is not the best of filmmaking. Something like this could never be made today, and it has technical merits if nothing else. Watch the story, decide for yourself what's valid and what's bacon lard. I cannot help thinking this film was forced on everyone involved.
I award one star for effort and one for the technical merits.
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