Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy (2011 Lifetime)
Cast: Hayden Panettiere, Marcia Gay Harden, Vincent Riotta
Listen to the Lifetime Uncorked Podcast here!
Watch & Stream the movie here! #Ad
Please buy me a coffee (or glass of 🍷 ) Support Lifetime Uncorked by leaving a $3 tip.
Synopsis (via Lifetime)
Based on the events surrounding the murder of British student Meredith Kercher.
Thoughts
The movie begins with new stories on the case—Flash to Italy, where Amanda Knox is a study abroad student. Amanda and her boyfriend Raffaele are approached by the police who are looking for her roommate Meredith. They report a break-in. Another roommate comes home and finds her room ransacked, and Meredith’s door is locked. The police break down the door and find a body. Amanda calls her mother, Edda, and informs her of the break-in. Then she makes out with Raffaele while the police arrive on the scene.
Two months earlier, Amanda is a barista on her way to study abroad. She moves to Italy and finds her roommate Meredith quickly. She meets Raffaele at the symphony, and they have a quick courtship and start spending their time together. They bond over getting bullied in school. Amanda was bullied for being a Lesbian and her father being the VP of Macy’s. (I guess she is rich.) Amanda tells Meredith about her new boyfriend and gushes over him.
Back to the crime scene, Detectives learn that someone stabbed Meredith and slit her throat. The break-in seems staged, and someone cleaned up the scene of the crime. Amanda Knox is brought in for questioning. She makes out with Raffaele in the waiting room, much to Filomena’s disgust. Statements are taken, and the two are released to literally frolick around Italy. They smoke cigarettes and have sex.
Detectives get more information and discover that Meredith was held down and strangled. She may have been raped or had consensual sex before dying. The body was also moved post momentum. Detectives bring Amanda Knox in for more questioning. She is brought back to the scene of the crime and has a freakout. The media is outside scrambling to take pictures of her.
The evidence keeps stacking up against Amanda Knox. Her other roommate reports suspicious behavior, a store clerk reports Amanda buying cleaning supplies, and they even turn Raffaele against her. Amanda is questioned for hours by police, and she gets exceedingly frightened and frustrated. She admits to lying in her original statement and accuses Patrick Lumbana or raping and murdering Meredith. Amanda is held in prison and calls her parents for help. Patrick is eventually released, and a man named Rudy is brought in for custody. Patrick tells the press that Amanda is dead inside. Rudy claims to have seen Amanda and Raffaele at the scene of the crime.
When her parents arrive, she tells them that she was coerced into giving the statement, and the police used unethical tactics. Then the authorities tell Amanda that she has HIV and demands a list of all the men she had sex with. It is a false positive and was used as a mental manipulation tactic.
The police use DNA evidence to build their case while the world obsesses over the case and calls her “Foxy Knoxy.” Trial by media.
A courtroom scene happens; it seems like the court is more interested in her sex life than the murder. Amanda Knox wears an “All you need is Love.” t-shirt. She testifies that the interrogation was intense and caused her to lose trust in the Italian police. The lab admits to some errors in collecting DNA, and the defense runs with that. Amanda Knox testifies that she is scared and not guilty of the crimes they are charging her.
Amanda and Raffaele are accused of the crimes and given 26 years in prison. (A ruling that is later overturned. Twice.) Amanda is taken away by a police van, and media surround her. The movie ends abruptly.
Side Note
Timeline of events for Amanda Knox’s case.
January 24, 2019: Italy is ordered to pay damages to Knox
While her legal problems were already resolved, the European Court of Human Rights adds icing to the victory cake by ordering Italy to pay Knox more than $20,000 in damages for the harsh interrogation she endured early in the investigation. “I am grateful for their wisdom in acknowledging the reality of false confessions, and the need to reform police interrogation methods,” Knox writes afterward in her blog.
Minority Report: Patrick, Rudy,
Don’t forget to listen to the Lifetime Uncorked Podcast available on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts!
Donate to keep the blog and podcast going 😊
Overall rating
🔪🔪🔪🔪 (4 Knives)
🍷🍷🍷 (3 glasses of wine required.)
*Photo Credit: © 2010 Lifetime
