AFI Fest Review: Tales of the Grim Sleeper

The truth is rarely stranger than fiction, but that's the case with Nick Broomfield's Tales of the Grim Sleeper, which documents the case of the serial killer who killed numerous women in South Central Los Angeles over the course of decades.  Broomfield enters the scene after the arrest has been made - Lonnie Franklin is in police custody and facing numerous charges - and asks neghbors to help him understand how Franklin got away with his crimes for so long.

What follows is a fascinating portrait of a tightly knit neighborhood, and an indictment of a jusice system that treats African-Americans as second-class citizens, at best.  One of the interview subjects tells her teenage son to never call 911, because he will be at the mercy of a police force that targets young black men, even if they're the victims, the ones making the calls and asking for help.  Thus, Broomfield's film serves as a companion piece to The House I Live In, which also documented the unfair racial bias that operates within our government.

The neighborhood is full of lively characters, most of whom rush to defend Lonnie's reputation.  Though his business dealing were illicit, he was a good guy, a longtime fixture in the neighborhood, and a ready helper.  From the get-go, the assurances of his neighbors cause some unease at Lonnie's arrest.  Maybe he's innocent after all.

The truth, though, is that it's more of a Bernie situation; no one wants to believe such a monster lived among them and was so involved in their lives.  But as Broomfield - a thing Englishman who sticks out in the neighborhood - gains his subjects' trust, they start to reveal what they've seen but never before wanted to confront (they're helped, too, by a hilariously frank guide, Pam).  The mountain of evidence grows higher and higher, making the lack of police intervention over the years all the more infuriating.  Lonnie could've been caught numerous times over the year, but because his victims were mostly African-American prostitutes, the police didn't really care.  In fact, to some, the Grim Sleeper was a bloodstained hero.

When the film opens with a Google Earth zoom to Lonnie's house, it seems like a fear tactic: this sort of horrific thing could be happening on your block!  But the film means it another way.  It is meant to implicate the widespread injustice minorities face.  People are treated as second-class citizens, or automatic suspects, simply because of their skin color.  This one case, excruciatingly stretched over two decades, is the perfect example of a broken criminal system.