CASTING JONBENET

Australia/US, 2017, 80 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Kitty Green.

This is a very interesting documentary, a different kind of docudrama and interpretation of events in the 1990s. As the title suggests, the focus is on casting of actors for a film about the death of Jon Benet Ramsey, a procedure used by Louis Theroux in his documentary about Scientology, My Scientology Movie.

The intention of the film is not to solve the mystery of the little girl’s death, nor to point the finger at a particular person. This is strictly limited. It is an exploration rather than a solution, an interpretation by the processes of casting, the response of the actors auditioning, and their interpretations. The potential actors chosen are all from Colorado, the state in which the murder took place, and all are familiar with the history. The auditions to place over a period of 15 months.

The impact of the film does not necessarily depend on knowledge of the details of the crime. By the end of the film, the audience will feel very well-informed, perhaps over-informed. There is the portrait of the Ramsey family, the background of the little girl Jon Benet, years old at the time of the, who had been promoted in shows, the reality of sexualisation of little children, the mystery of her death, her role as daughter and the portrait of her parents, of her brother, other people involved, of the police and their inconclusive investigations. The murder is still a mystery.

The crime happened in the 1990s, 20 years having passed between the crime and the making of this film. The information from the police investigations is available, the inadequacy of some of their investigations is also available, the mistakes they have made and the interrogation of all the people involved to those accused.

While the emphasis is on Jon Benet’s parents, their is also the picture of the sexual predator who confessed to the killing and spent time in prison, rather eerie experience for the film.

Also brought forward is an abduction scenario which seems to have some ludicrous aspects including a precise amount specified for the ransom payment, the delay in the note being found – and that in fact the note is a rather long letter about the situation.

Holding auditions for actors to portray the characters in the case, offers an opportunity for retrospective consideration, an analysis of the characters, dramatising them as well as putting forward theories about them.

The device of the casting is introduced early in the film with a group of little girls coming in to take their chairs, eager to take the role of Jon Benet. This already highlights, with the little girls, their suggestive costumes, their behaviour, the giggling, what eagerness about the media will do to children. They chatter and give the image to the audience of Jon Benet.

There is quite a range of actors auditioning for the roles of each of the parents. Those auditioning for the role of the mother tend to appear with same clothes that were seen in her at the time of the crime and on the media. A lot of women are auditioning, trying to put themselves in the place of the mother but also offering a great deal of speculation. The same is true of the actors auditioning for the father. A great variety of opinions.

Those auditioning for the role of the police are even more interesting times, at the different looks, the different characters, their occupations, the motives for coming to the auditions, the interpretation of dialogue presented to them, the revelation about their own work – especially the man who claims that he is a sex advisor and has to take a call from a client during the audition and who has quite a deal to say about some deviant sexual behaviour.

So that means that director Kitty Green, and her setting up this scenario, brings to the audience the central characters but also their complexities, more and more being revealed about them as the goes on, seemingly upright then something suspicious being raised, especially about the father. There are many possibilities as to what happened.

The case remains unsolved and audiences, pondering all the facets of characters and the possibilities of action will still be wondering what really happened.