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johnrohan118
Reviews
Valentine Road (2013)
Slow and a little misleading
This documentary was awfully slow. Many of the interviews are simply irrelevant, children rambling on and on about one or other of the boys. Other interviews seem edited to making certain Brandon supporters look stupid, and the prosecutors beyond question. For example, it doesn't bother exploring the reasons why Brandon was tried as an adult, which probably led to the first mistrial. The prosecutors show video of Brandon fighting while in juvenile detention, but if you Google the incident, guards at the facility said he was actually very well behaved and the incident was not serious.
It looks for answers for this senseless tragedy. It gives the full background on the dysfunctional childhood of both boys, and makes a strong case to tie the killing to homophobia and racism, although the real life evidence of that wasn't quite so strong.
Due to the sheer numbers of interviews however, the film is very useful to anyone exploring this incident. Overall, it gets a passing grade, but just barely.