Synopsis
British documentarian Nick Broomfield creates a follow-up piece to his 1992 documentary of the serial killer Aileen Wuornos, a highway prostitute who was convicted of killing six men in Florida between 1989 and 1990. Interviewing an increasingly mentally unstable Wuornos, Broomfield captures the distorted mind of a murderer whom the state of Florida deems of sound mind -- and therefore fit to execute. Throughout the film, Broomfield includes footage of his testimony at Wuornos' trial.
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Cast
- Aileen WuornosSelf
- Nick BroomfieldSelf
- Diane WuornosSelf
- Arlene PralleSelf (archive footage)
- Tyria MooreSelf (archive footage)
- Dawn BotkinsSelf
- Michelle ChauvinSelf
- Dick MillsSelf (archive footage)
- Dennis AllenSelf
- Jeb BushSelf (archive footage)
Recommendations
- 100
Christian Science Monitor
In addition to its own merits as a social and cultural document, Broomfield's film continues the welcome trend of more and more nonfiction movies finding their way to theater screens and attracting wide general audiences. - 80
L.A. Weekly
It makes an eloquent case against the death penalty, especially when imposed on the mentally incompetent. For if one thing is clear by the time she went to the execution chamber, it's that Wuornos is barking mad, her eyes wild and vengeful, yet also, on some level, already dead. - 80
Los Angeles Times
She was guilty, no doubt, but as this immensely moving film makes clear, Aileen Wuornos was also heartbreakingly human. - 80
Film Threat
The pacing is perfect and there’s no shortage of interesting revelations, and let’s face it, there aren’t many more subjects under the sun that are more interesting than serial killers. Consider "Aileen" to be an essential viewing companion to its dramatic narrative counterpart. - 70
The Hollywood Reporter
The most damning account of the failure of the criminal justice system in America anyone is ever likely to see. - 70
The New York Times
Presents itself as an anguished brief against capital punishment, especially the execution of people who are legally insane...But the timing of its release smacks of the very exploitation that Mr. Bloomfield condemns. - 60
Variety
It's the interviews with Aileen herself that steal the show as she insists her mind is being controlled by radio waves -- her Mad Hatter personality beyond the scope of Broomfield's disingenuous tone to interpret. - 60
Village Voice
Broomfield's investigatory technique remains a frustrating pileup of unfocused Q&As and misplaced credulity. But when Broomfield travels to her Michigan hometown, he pieces together a life blighted at breech-birth: a grotesque of abandonment, incest, physical and sexual abuse, pregnancy at 13, and homelessness.
