Nick Broomfield's documentary is a tragedy. It is an indication of how a person's life can destroy them psychologically and make them into a 'monster.'
The documentary leaves you with many questions. Was Wuornos the child of incest? Why did everyone look the other way when Wuornos was kicked out of home? She was forced to live in the woods and had to sleep in the snow when winter came! How is it possible that a community could let a 13 year old girl live in the woods and the snow? The evidence of this is readily apparent when her friend Dawn shows Broomfield around the small Florida settlement of where she grew up. Wuornos also shows her hands to Broomfield and they have the distinct markings of someone who has certainly slept in the rough.
Growing up in her small Florida community, what the documentary finds is that Wuornos was sexually exploited by all of the males around her. Even her brother was having sex with her! She was not protected. It also states that she had the 'reputation' of the town tramp and as a result was ostracised and hated by the small community, especially by other girls. Eventually she got pregnant and after the baby was given up for adoption she was kicked out by her grandfather.
What is most interesting is that another individual ended up living in the woods with her for a while. The person was a homosexual man who liked to cross dress. This is interesting because of what it implies. It implies that the community values a high degree of conformity. The different or the ones who do not behave are rejected from the town. The degree of cruelty inherent in this kind of community social ostracism is astounding!
The film does show that Wuornos is indeed a monster. At least twice in this film she rants and raves. One minute she is nice and calm. The next...the explosion comes! The Aileen that pulled the trigger becomes plainly visible. The angers pours out of her like lava from a volcano. It spews forth! The anger is so extreme it is obviously psychotic. Yet Aileens emotions are fleeting and often exaggerated. Illustrating the borderline personality disorder that she had been diagnosed with.
The most disturbing part of the film is when Aileen is going after the death penalty as a GOAL. She even goes as far as trying to sabotage her own defence. After TWELVE years on death row she has lost her mind from the constant stress. THREE psychiatrists find her competent enough to vouch for her sanity.
This becomes an absolute joke in her last interview with Broomfield. Aileen rants and raves about cops who she thinks let her kill these men so they could make her a serial killer. That way they would be able to sell her story. She claims that the government is controlling her mind through radio waves. Aileen also states that the guards are trying to poison her and she must wash her food. She claims that the whole time she was murdering her victims, that she was also being followed by unmarked helicopters. Police supposedly dropped from these choppers to follow her. So basically Aileen had completely lost her mind and was delusional!
Anyone with a vague notion of mental illness knows that stress is a major factor in causing schizophrenia or any mental disorder. The documentary shows that Aileen had a bad birth and this possibly caused some physical brain damage. Add childhood trauma and then place more intense stress on the individual. I believe that the incredible stress of death row was enough to throw Aileen into paranoid schizophrenia.
Because of the cloudy circumstances of the case. Aileen could have spent the rest of her life on death row. She wanted release by death. Who could blame her? It becomes quite clear that some of the killings were self defence and others were just to obtain money. This was to keep her lover Tyra. Remember border-lines are terrified of being alone and will do anything to keep their lovers. Wuornos being an extreme case was willing to kill.
Aileen was a very sick woman. A woman who should have been institutionalized not executed. Shame on Jeb Bush and his cronies! The tragedy of Aileen Wuornos is also the tragedy of western society. How long must child abuse and neglect go on before people start to realize that all of societies worst monsters arise from the aforementioned factors? Where were the social services that could have helped Aileen? That might have led her to a better life. I am a true crime fan and a grad student in psychology. I have read about many killers. It always comes back to the same factors with a depressing regularity, mental retardation, childhood trauma and paranoid thinking.
The system failed Aileen. The defining moment of this film is when after a fit of ranting, Aileen gives the camera the finger. Broomfield tells her he is sorry. We the audience also cannot help but feel pity. We know that that if this woman had not suffered such brutal mistreatment and betrayal. If someone had actually given a damn about her, things might have been different. This documentary shows that United States has a long way to go before it is a humane civilised society.
Indeed, as Dostoevsky points out, the degree of civilisation in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.
The documentary leaves you with many questions. Was Wuornos the child of incest? Why did everyone look the other way when Wuornos was kicked out of home? She was forced to live in the woods and had to sleep in the snow when winter came! How is it possible that a community could let a 13 year old girl live in the woods and the snow? The evidence of this is readily apparent when her friend Dawn shows Broomfield around the small Florida settlement of where she grew up. Wuornos also shows her hands to Broomfield and they have the distinct markings of someone who has certainly slept in the rough.
Growing up in her small Florida community, what the documentary finds is that Wuornos was sexually exploited by all of the males around her. Even her brother was having sex with her! She was not protected. It also states that she had the 'reputation' of the town tramp and as a result was ostracised and hated by the small community, especially by other girls. Eventually she got pregnant and after the baby was given up for adoption she was kicked out by her grandfather.
What is most interesting is that another individual ended up living in the woods with her for a while. The person was a homosexual man who liked to cross dress. This is interesting because of what it implies. It implies that the community values a high degree of conformity. The different or the ones who do not behave are rejected from the town. The degree of cruelty inherent in this kind of community social ostracism is astounding!
The film does show that Wuornos is indeed a monster. At least twice in this film she rants and raves. One minute she is nice and calm. The next...the explosion comes! The Aileen that pulled the trigger becomes plainly visible. The angers pours out of her like lava from a volcano. It spews forth! The anger is so extreme it is obviously psychotic. Yet Aileens emotions are fleeting and often exaggerated. Illustrating the borderline personality disorder that she had been diagnosed with.
The most disturbing part of the film is when Aileen is going after the death penalty as a GOAL. She even goes as far as trying to sabotage her own defence. After TWELVE years on death row she has lost her mind from the constant stress. THREE psychiatrists find her competent enough to vouch for her sanity.
This becomes an absolute joke in her last interview with Broomfield. Aileen rants and raves about cops who she thinks let her kill these men so they could make her a serial killer. That way they would be able to sell her story. She claims that the government is controlling her mind through radio waves. Aileen also states that the guards are trying to poison her and she must wash her food. She claims that the whole time she was murdering her victims, that she was also being followed by unmarked helicopters. Police supposedly dropped from these choppers to follow her. So basically Aileen had completely lost her mind and was delusional!
Anyone with a vague notion of mental illness knows that stress is a major factor in causing schizophrenia or any mental disorder. The documentary shows that Aileen had a bad birth and this possibly caused some physical brain damage. Add childhood trauma and then place more intense stress on the individual. I believe that the incredible stress of death row was enough to throw Aileen into paranoid schizophrenia.
Because of the cloudy circumstances of the case. Aileen could have spent the rest of her life on death row. She wanted release by death. Who could blame her? It becomes quite clear that some of the killings were self defence and others were just to obtain money. This was to keep her lover Tyra. Remember border-lines are terrified of being alone and will do anything to keep their lovers. Wuornos being an extreme case was willing to kill.
Aileen was a very sick woman. A woman who should have been institutionalized not executed. Shame on Jeb Bush and his cronies! The tragedy of Aileen Wuornos is also the tragedy of western society. How long must child abuse and neglect go on before people start to realize that all of societies worst monsters arise from the aforementioned factors? Where were the social services that could have helped Aileen? That might have led her to a better life. I am a true crime fan and a grad student in psychology. I have read about many killers. It always comes back to the same factors with a depressing regularity, mental retardation, childhood trauma and paranoid thinking.
The system failed Aileen. The defining moment of this film is when after a fit of ranting, Aileen gives the camera the finger. Broomfield tells her he is sorry. We the audience also cannot help but feel pity. We know that that if this woman had not suffered such brutal mistreatment and betrayal. If someone had actually given a damn about her, things might have been different. This documentary shows that United States has a long way to go before it is a humane civilised society.
Indeed, as Dostoevsky points out, the degree of civilisation in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.