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The Menendez brothers take media by storm
WED.| 11-13-24 | ENTERTAINMENT
Erik and Lyle Menendez.
The brothers that have taken the media by storm. A case that dates back three decades has been the center of attention for Hollywood. From TikTok accounts speculating on the potential for their convictions to be overturned to Kim Kardashian advocating for their release, Netflix’s documentary has shed a new light on who they are and what they did.
“The Menendez Brothers” documentary starts off by introducing the brothers, Erik and Lyle, who were both sentenced to life without parole for the murder of their parents. The documentary then depicts their lifestyle before the crime, with some aesthetic shots of Beverly Hills in the 80’s. This surprised me since I did not expect such an affluent family in a popular area like Beverly Hills to commit such a gruesome crime. The documentary then shifts to the actual crime and the interviews the police conducted with the Menendez brothers on the scene. They can be heard saying contradicting statements and just not making any sense in relation to the crime, which confused me. How were they not considered suspects right then? The documentary includes a recent interview where Erik even admits that “it was pretty incredible [that] we weren’t arrested that night, we should have been.”
Photo courtesy of imdb.com
The documentary starts to delve into the background of the Menendez family, talking about Jose Menendez’s accomplishments and how he was a business powerhouse. Prior to this documentary, I hadn’t known a lot about the Menendez family other than the brothers, so this was shocking to me. Netflix went very in depth with this case, not only showing what happened to the brothers but also the roots of their family.
Afterward, the Menendez brothers shared what their relatives’ reaction was to their parent’s murder, which made me sympathize with them. I can’t imagine how hard it is to grieve with your family, knowing that you are the one responsible. They then interviewed the prosecutor for the first trial, Pamela Bozanich, who speculated they had murdered their parents for the money, as they had been spending copious amounts of it after. Having the perspective of the prosecutor showed me the thought process used to convict the brothers, which was intriguing.
In the first trial, the dark side of Jose Menendez started to come to light. Many people came to the stand to say how horrible of a person Jose was, which perplexed me because many people did not believe that the brothers were abused.
The documentary gives an accurate depiction of the events that took place in both trials and in the actual crime itself, unlike the Netflix show “Monsters”. This series, created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, tells the story of the Menendez brothers in a slower-paced sequence. Although “Monsters” is more popular than the documentary, it broadcasts a more inaccurate version of events, dramatized for entertainment.
Overall the documentary did a good job of informing me about the case in an objective way while also showing me different perspectives on the conflict. I would recommend this watch for any true crime fans interested in the case of the Menendez brothers.