Excellent, a Must See

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

OK, documentary. Nick Bloomfield had more sympathy for a serial killer than the people that she killed. Yes, Aileen had a horrible life, but still does not give her an excuse to kill innocent people. Aileen said outrages things to Nick because she knew she could manipulate him and he bought it hook, line, and sinker. Aileen had Nick wrapped around her little finger because he believed her lies and every story that she told him. Very bias documentary in favor of a serial killer.

Nick Broomfield's second documentary on Aileen Carol Wuornos, a highway prostitute who was executed in 2002 for killing seven men in the state of Florida. This second installment includes the filmmaker's testimony at Wuornos's trial.I have studied serial killers on and off since the mid-1990s. I would hardly call myself an expert, but I have seen more than my share of footage and read more than my share of books. Aileen is definitely one of the more interesting serial killers. They are all interesting to a greater or lesser degree, but Aileen is interesting not only because she is a woman, but because she has a fascinating upbringing and mentality. I think she was crazy, but not necessarily a sociopath.Male and female serial killers are different, both in their methods and their motives. As Wuornos herself says, she never had the "thrill" aspect, and despite being a prostitute, I doubt there was a sexual outlet aspect in her murders. She was, first and foremost, desperate for money. Whether she can even be called a serial killer at all is up for debate.

The honest truth can get very ugly. British filmmaker(Nick Broomfield) directs this documentary that deals with appeals court appearances of infamous serial killer Aileen Wuornos, who went on a murder spree in 1992. Growing up in Michigan Aileen was selling sex for cigarettes at the age of 9. Dealing with abuse most of her life, Wournos had very little respect for men...but knew she needed to use them for her survival. In the state of Florida Aileen became a highway prostitute as a teen and was convicted of killing six semi-truck drivers claiming she was defending herself from rape. This film shows a very troubled woman that runs in and out of paranoid schizophrenia. Actual footage from court appearances plus personal interviews with the killer; as well as family members of the "johns" she murdered makes for an undaunted, matter-of-fact, in your face documentary. Wournos makes no bones about what she did; but she is adamant about the criminal justice system failing her. Her story was loosely told in the acclaimed 2003 movie MONSTER starring Charlize Theron in the lead role.

Aileen Wuornos grew up in a financially, and emotionally, deprived family. She later killed seven men in cold blood (she may have been defending herself from attack in some cases, but that remains unclear). She showed little remorse thereafter. She was intelligent, articulate, and although towards the end of her spell on death row appeared wildly deluded, was arguably not insane: her view of the world may have been wrong, but it did make sense. The story of her final year, told in this film by Nick Broomfield (who had made another film earlier during her journey through the U.S. legal system), makes highly disturbing viewing. Wuornos does not come across as a "monster" (the name of a subsequent fictionalised account of her case) but as very human; and yet she seems incapable of comprehending the significance of death, even her own at the hands of the state. The system treated her badly, and I personally oppose the death penalty in all cases; and yet it's hard to imagine how anyone in her position could generate less sympathy than Wuornos does. In some respects, 'Aileen' is a ghoulish film, peeping through the window of a house of pure horror.Broomfield's earlier film centred on the grotesque way almost everyone involved in the case tried to sell their story to the media. But Broomfield himself is part of that media, and notwithstanding the fact that he gained Wuornos' trust, this film seems almost out of it's depth. Broomfield's style, first practised on South African white supremacist Eugene Terreblanche, is based on turning up, turning on the camera and letting people damn themselves. In his film of Terreblanche, the tactic worked, brilliantly deflating alarmist rumours of an Afrikaaner coup in it's portrait of it's pathetic subject. But in 'Aileen', it's unclear who Broomfield is trying to damn, or whether anyone is well served by the putting of the story on camera. In one of the most chilling moments, we see the awful television coverage of Wuornos' execution (sample sound-bite: "Date with Death"), but at one remove, through Broomfield's own lens. Does this make the film an expose, or merely an exploitation of (and contributor to) our collective and irrational fear of that tiny proportion of humanity who kill for apparently no reason? It might do us more value to look at the (socially licensed) serial killers on both sides of the war in Iraq. Instead we play "watch the monster". At least 'Aileen' makes you think. But don't expect to understand.