Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer
Verzio FF This moving and tragic story of Aileen Wuornos, America's first woman serial killer, is a powerful indictment against capital punishment and the execution of the mentally insane. In 1992, acclaimed UK filmmaker Nick Broomfield made "Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of A Serial Killer,...
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| Institution: | Open Society Archives at Central European University |
| Language: | English |
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Jo Human
2003
United Kingdom |
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10891/osa:589bd3ff-c2b3-48e0-bf57-c0f3c3c2f4b4 |
| Summary: | Verzio FF
This moving and tragic story of Aileen Wuornos, America's first woman serial killer, is a powerful indictment against capital punishment and the execution of the mentally insane. In 1992, acclaimed UK filmmaker Nick Broomfield made "Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of A Serial Killer," which revealed how Aileen's mother, her lawyer, and the Florida state police tried to sell her sensationalized story to the highest bidder. Amidst the frenzy of greed, Aileen emerges as the most sincere person in the film. Twelve years later, Broomfield was summoned to Aileen's final appeal before execution, and his earlier film was shown as evidence that she had not been given a fair trial. However, during the appeal, Aileen suddenly confesses that she committed the murders in cold blood and is ready to die (she later confides to Broomfield that she said this because she could no longer endure life on death row). Broomfield decides to probe deeper into Aileen's troubled life and reveals how her childhood of extreme abuse and neglect led her to become a runaway and teenage prostitute with severe drug problems. Broomfield's powerful film reveals the flaws in the US criminal justice system and the stark inhumanity of capital punishment, particularly of the mentally ill. Aileen Wuornos was executed by the state of Florida on October 9, 2002. |
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| Published: | 2003 |