Common Sense Media Review
By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Formulaic docu about sociopathic killer has violence.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
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Pathological: The Lies of Joran van der Sloot
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
In PATHOLOGICAL: THE LIES OF JORAN VAN DER SLOOT, Natalee Holloway disappears one night in 2005 during an Aruba vacation with high school friends. Van der Sloot, an Aruba local known for preying on tourist women, is a suspect in her murder almost immediately, but as his prominent lawyer dad advises him, with no body it's hard for authorities to prove a crime was committed. Knowing of his history of harming animals and bullying in his youth, authorities feel certain he is the killer but can't arrest him for lack of evidence. For nearly two decades, Holloway's mother, Beth, pursues justice from her home in Alabama, and when a broke, gambling-addicted van der Sloot tries to extort $250,000 from her in exchange for what turns out to be a false account of Natalee's death, the FBI documents the transaction but files no charges until years later. The perp continues to scam people, including embarrassingly credulous journalists, who pay him for yet another false version of the crime. After he takes Natalee's mom's money and moves to Peru to gamble, he kills another young woman named Stephany Flores. The police are able to pin that killing on him and put him away for 23 years. From prison he marries and fathers a child and, with a girlfriend on the side, dabbles in cocaine trafficking. Will he ever face justice for Natalee Holloway's murder?
Is It Any Good?
Pathological: The Lies of Joran van der Sloot is a formulaic TV documentary featuring repetitive talking heads and irrelevant filler footage. It seems designed to meet the arbitrarily allotted 90-minute length rather than to suit the material. A better-paced, more direct edit could have told the story more dramatically in an hour or less. Cliffhangers are contrived and not suspenseful. Included is the professionally embarrassing story about duped journalist Greta Van Susteren paying the suspect thousands for an interview in which he promises to divulge what happened to Natalee, but doesn't. The story is spun as if that escapade was a journalistic triumph that somehow exposed something or other about Joran, which it did not. In truth, they paid and he lied.
Just about every talking head speculates on what Joran does and doesn't feel, and assures us that he is a liar, a manipulator, a sociopath, and feels neither empathy nor remorse. OK. We get it. The far more important point is that ultimately he was brought to account and the parents of the dead women experienced some form of closure.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the pain felt by the families of the women killed by the movie's subject. Do you think documentaries like this one are healing? Why, or why not?
Many interviewees speculate on what van der Sloot felt or thought. Do you think those perspectives are helpful or accurate in either a criminal investigation or a documentary reporting on the crime? Are speculations as likely to be true as misleading? Why, or why not?
How does this illustrate the ways in which law enforcement is effective and ineffective in such cases?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : February 27, 2024
- Director : Christopher Cassel
- Studio : Peacock
- Genre : Documentary
- Run time : 90 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : March 5, 2024
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