Truly Dreadful Film

Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess

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.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

On July 22, 2007, William Petit was a successful doctor, living the dream with his wife and two daughters in the Connecticut town of Cheshire, population circa 29,000. By the following night he was lying in a hospital bed battered and beaten. Far, far worse, he was a widower, the lives of his wife and both daughters snuffed out by two lowlifes whose crime was as shocking as any we have come to see in this at times cruel world. Even his home had been burned out, and the psychological trauma he and his immediate family suffered does not bear thinking about.This HBO documentary begins with the aftermath of the crime and ends with the trial of Joshua Komisarjevsky; both men were sentenced to death. It contains some unpleasant footage but no autopsy photos or reconstructions. Remarkably it manages to cover the case from all angles speaking to the father of Jennifer Hawke-Petit, the daughter and both brothers of killer Steven Hayes, and the youthful girlfriend of his partner-in-crime along with the defense attorneys of both men and the prosecution. The latter's love interest spoke candidly; she said Komisarjevsky liked to tie her up. In this day and age there is nothing shocking about this revelation, but tying up an 11 year old girl, raping her and setting her on fire is no sane person's idea of kinky sex.The family of Hayes have mixed feelings, his young daughter Alicia feels sorry for him while his brothers believe he should be executed. Although Hayes is the older man, there is little doubt that Komisarjevsky has earned himself a hotter spot in Hell; he was said always to have had a preference for young girls; one contributor to this film said he told Komisarjevsky he was a paedophile; if he were not then, he is now. At the penalty phase of his trial, the claim was made that he was sexually abused as a child; this claim appears to be true, but it mitigates how? More interestingly, Komisarjevsky is said to have a photographic memory and to be a talented artist, the drawings displayed here are certainly evidence of such talent; it's just a pity he had to squander it.It seems unlikely now that either man will be executed. Not mentioned here is the fact that Hayes has boasted of committing many other murders, but this may simply be bravado.There is a lot more in this documentary, and some people may find it too much for their sensibilities, but it is a remarkable work that deserves a wide audience.

This well-balanced film documents a horrific crime committed by 2 career criminals, one only 26 yrs. old and the mastermind of the subject crime.I won't give away details of the film as others have already described very eloquently. I disagree that there was nothing to be learned from this documentary. It made me think more about capital punishment, the adoption and foster system and abuse of children and how they might be helped before spiralling out of control. Valid points were made on both sides, the defense and prosecution. My heart goes out to all families related to this crime.

Living one town away from Cheshire, I was actually looking forward to watching this film. Discovering a new perspective on a horrible crime that rocked our area. Instead I got a badly shot (really, how many tops of buildings and rain puddles do we need to see?), lethargically paced, incomplete snooze-fest.There are no actual new interviews with Dr. Petit, the lone survivor of this horrible home invasion. No cops speak. (This despite the dropped hint that they waited much to long to enter the house. That the filmmakers could not get one city or state cop on camera to discuss this is just lazy filmmaking.) Prosecutor? Nope. One of the jurors? Not a chance. Okay, then what about the Komisarjevsky and Hayes, on death row? What would they have to say? Would they be remorseful? No idea, they're not interviewed.Instead we mostly follow the parents and sister of Jennifer Hawke-Petit around. And while they are very nice people, and I feel such sympathy for their tragedy, they are not captivating subjects.About the only worthwhile interview in the entire film was that of Hayes defense attorney Thomas Ullmann. He was captivating, sincere and informative. The complete opposite was Komisarjevsky's attorney Walter Bansley III. He sort of made you want to take a shower after listening to him speak. He was wonderfully clueless of Dr. Petit's pain. Perhaps if the filmmakers had interviewed just these two men and let them each tell one side of the story from two very different perspectives, THAT would have been a film worth watching. But the film we were given was not. (A little shocked that HBO would air such a mess. But then the ratings were guaranteed.) As for structure, there is none. The film meanders all over the place, from the night of, to puddles, to court, to lingering shots of the tops of buildings in New Haven. Most filmmakers know there's a three act structure in story-telling for a reason. And if you break it you better have a damn good reason. Shoddy filmmaking is not one of them. This is filmmaking 101 at its worst.The information compiled in The Cheshire Murders would perhaps make a fine 30 minute short. But as a 2-hour film is was unforgivably boring. A Dateline special on NBC would have been better made.

After I finished watching this film, I kept asking myself 'what was its purpose?' It didn't give us any new insight into this horrendous crime, it just made us remember what many are trying to forget.It scared me all over again and I found myself checking the locks and closing the windows. I agree that it was just lazy film making and not up to the documentaries that HBO has sponsored in the past. No one of any real importance allowed themselves to be interviewed except the creepy defense attorney's who, let's face it, LOVE any PRESS! It was like an NYU Film grad went to the library and edited all the news clips and still shots they could find. If you're going to take on such a sensitive subject of life and death, do it so we learn something from it...