Term Paper

Film Journal

Graduate Student

Name of Film: “Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer” (1992)

Director: Nick Broomfield, HBO Documentaries, 1992

Date: June 4, 2009

Short summary: The documentary, “Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer”, is a film directed by Nick Broomfield in 1992. The film documents the life of Aileen Wuornos, a woman convicted for the murder of seven men in Florida.

The documentary examines Aileen’s self-destructive of drugs, prostitution, an abusive marriage, murder and her battle with mental illness.

Observation: The documentary was well presented and adheres to the agenda of presenting to viewers Aileen Wuornos’ harsh childhood, physical abuse and incest inflicted by her own family members. The documentary presented to viewers the circumstances that may have led her to commit such atrocious crimes.

Broomfield conducts interviews with Wuornos in an effort to understand her state of mind at the time of the murders. After 15 minutes of examination, the state psychologists declare Wuornos as mentally fit for execution.

The documentary raises troubling questions about issues surrounding the execution of the mentally incompetent and poises the question of whether it was justifiable to put Wuornos to death due to her psychotic mind should of mind.

The documentary did change my views about the executing the mentally insane. I agree that Wuornos should pay for her crimes but with her life behind bars. Wuornos was obviously not in touch with reality when she murdered the men. Perhaps her defense would have been more creditable if it were simply the murder of one of the men due to self defense. Murdering a total of seven men quickly labeled her as a serial killer.

In my opinion, nothing would really be gained by her execution other than revengeful justice being served for the family

The documentary did have narrative value because it tells the tragic story of Aileen Wuornos from youth to her execution.