Should you watch The Staircase?
Who it’s good for, who it isn’t, and what’s in it. No ratings, no scores.
The Staircase
Documentary · 2004
Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker, Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, presents a gripping courtroom thriller, offering a rare and revealing inside look at a high-profile murder trial. In 2001, author Michael Peterson was arraigned for the murder of his wife Kathleen, whose body was discovered lying in a pool of blood on the stairway of their home. Granted unusual access to Peterson's lawyers, home and immediate family, de Lestrade's cameras capture the defense team as it considers its strategic options. The series is an engrossing look at contemporary American justice that features more twists than a legal bestseller.
The sides of The Staircase
- A writer charged with his wife's death
- His defense team at work, filmed from inside
- A murder trial in North Carolina
The Staircase is good for you if…
- you want to weigh the evidence in a real death yourself.
- you like a camera inside a real defense team during a murder trial.
- you can live with never knowing what happened on that staircase.
The Staircase is bad for you if…
- you can't watch a family grieve a real death.
- you need momentum, and courtroom procedure loses you.
About: justice · doubt · family
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