WHO KILLED ATLANTA'S CHILDREN? (AN ECHO OF MURDER)

US, 2000, 105 minutes, Colour.
James Belushi, Gregory Hines, Sean Mc Cann, Shawn Doyle, Kenneth Welsh.
Directed by Charles Robert Carner.

Who Killed Atlanta's children is a treatment of a real case of the 1980s, the child murders of Atlanta. This film is structured as an investigation, two reporters (in the All the President's Men tradition), who are opposites working at Spin magazine, go to Atlanta in order to uncover the story. There is a plea from the mothers of the victims that they continue their investigation, see the involvement of the Ku Klux Klan, a conspiracy, cover-ups by various officials of the police and the FBI.

Gregory Hines is the more sober member of the team, editing the articles by his partner played by Jim Belushi, the maverick style. Their interactions generate some spark during the investigation. The case was famous because a man was arrested and charged and imprisoned with some of the murders.

However, as the investigation continues, it appears that there is a wider conspiracy. It is noted that these murders prompted an extensive use of serial killer profiling as well as forensic fibre analysis. However, when the film was made about 1999-2000, the case had not been reopened and the charged man was still in prison. However, several years later, the case was reopened.

The film was written and directed by Charles Robert Carner whose films include The Fixer, Vanishing Point, Red Water, The Christmas Rush and the Judas film with Jonathan Schaech as Judas.

1. An interesting drama? Newspaper reporter investigation? Murder mystery? Campaign for the innocence of a prisoner? How well did these elements come together?

2. Audience knowledge of the events, in Atlanta, the murder of black children? The repercussions for the city? The mothers and families? The lack of investigation? The possible conspiracies?

3. The New York background of the investigators? Atlanta itself, the neighbourhoods, police precincts, the FBI? The homes of the parents? Jails? The musical score?

4. The title? The alternate title - and the flashbacks?

5. The structure of the film: the murders, the introduction to the investigators, their work? Their own personal lives? Marriages and children? The visit to Atlanta, the progress of the
investigation, ups and downs, the various tracks? The flashbacks?

6. The murders themselves? Visualising them, the children, victims, the brutality? The families, the mothers, their meeting together, pleas to the police, the reaction to the man imprisoned? their not believing the investigation? The pressures on the investigators? Being in court at the end, some final satisfaction?

7. Laughlin and Larson, their work at Spin magazine, Laughlin writing the articles, Larson as the editor? The editing of Laughlin's special article? The phone calls and the information about Atlanta? The pressure to go? The backgrounds of their families, Larson and his divorce, Laughlin and his family, the children, the pressure from his wife? Their absences and the consequences?

8. Their going to Atlanta, the different styles, Larson conservative, Laughlin as maverick? Their interactions, clashes, politically incorrect arguments? Their working together, Laughlin finally writing the article, the pressures on Larson, the quashing of the article? The reconsideration, the backing of enforcement agencies? The articles and the consequences for exposure? Their personalities, success in their work, limitations, drawbacks?

9. Melton, his being a witness, the contact, the dangers, the interviews?

10. The FBI agent, the cover-ups, the shredding of evidence? The links with the Ku Klux Klan? His smoothness, the investigations, his being interrogated? His behaviour in the court,
Kunstler and his pressurising him, his contradictions in testimony, the press conference, his disgrace?

11. The picture of the police, the investigations, their limitations, the evidence, finding Williams, the court case, his being found guilty, his going to jail? Laughlin and Larson visiting him in jail?

12. The background of the Ku Klux Klan, the activities in Georgia in the 70s and 80s, the conspiracies, the gangs, recruiting black men? The redneck whites? The brutality against the children?

13. The FBI, the investigations, the agents, the links with the Ku Klux Klan? The expose?

14. The closing of the trial, Williams still in jail - and the later reopening? The open-ended interpretation of what happened?