Rent Aileen (2003)
3.5 of 5 from 81 ratings
1h 29min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
In 1991, Nick Broomfield made "Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer". Aileen's lawyer, her born again Christian mother and the Florida state police had all been involved in trying to sell her story, that of America's first female serial killer, to the highest bidder. Aileen herself, who was convicted of murdering seven men, ironically emerged as the most honest person. Aileen and Nick kept in touch, writing occasionally until 2002 when he was served with a subpoena to appear at her final state appeal before execution. It was at this point that Broomfield and longtime collaborator Joan Churchill, then still working on Biggie and Tupac,decided to make a second film about Aileen. "Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer" looks at Aileen's violent, tortured childhood in Troy, Michigan and her subsequent years on the road as a hitch-hiking prostitute which culminated in the murders. In her last interview, conducted by Broomfield at Aileen's request, she said she believed her mind was being controlled by radio waves. On October 9th 2002 she was executed in Florida. Shot entirely by Broomfield and Churchill, longtime collaborators who worked together on the acclaimed Kurt and Courtney, the film provides a disturbing and humane insight into the mind of a deeply paranoid yet sympathetic person. Together for the first time on video, these two films form a powerful statement against the k death penalty, raising serious questions about the US legal system and the political impetus behind Aileen's execution. Both films were used by Charlize Theron as the basis of her Oscar-winning performance as Aileen in Monster. The packed disc also features the trailer for Monster, and an exclusive interview with Broomfield about his experiences when making these two extraordinary films. - Actors:
- Aileen Wuornos, Nick Broomfield, Terry Humphreys-Slay, Leitha Prather, Shirley Humphreys, Joe Hobson, Steve Glazer, Dawn Botkins, Arlene Pralle, Tyria Moore, Muriel Blount, Danny Caldwell, Jerry Moss, Michelle Chauvin, Dennis Allen, Jesse 'The Human Bomb' Aviles, Dick Mills, Brian Jarvis, Joan Murray, Jeb Bush
- Directors:
- Nick Broomfield, Joan Churchill
- Producers:
- Jo Human, Nick Broomfield
- Writers:
- Nick Broomfield
- Aka:
- Life and Death of a Serial Killer / The Selling of a Serial Killer
- Studio:
- Optimum
- Genres:
- Documentary
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Reviews (3) of Aileen
An impressive look at the life of a murderer. - Aileen review by CP Customer
This is possibly Nick Broomfield's best documentary to date. A follow up to his 1992 film 'Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer', 'Life And Death' is a more complete look at the life of Aileen Wuornos telling the story of Wuornos' from her troubled upbringing to her execution in 2002. The film is told through Broomfield's own narration and through interviews with Wuornos family and friends, and via interviews with Aileen Wuornos herself. Really the most interesting aspect of the film is Nick Broomfield's journey from just a filmmaker seeing Aileen as the topic of his film to forming a bond with her and speaking out against her death sentence as toward the end he's clearly convinced she's mentally ill. If you like documentaries then this is highly recommended.
3 out of 3 members found this review helpful.
Death Row Documentary. - Aileen review by Steve
Broomfield's second (and better) documentary on Aileen Wuornos, killer of seven, and her last days before execution in Florida. A bit prurient... but the relationship between the English director and the unstable, damaged Wuornos is fascinating, and Broomfield quietly sketches in a case against capital punishment.
2 out of 2 members found this review helpful.
Dead Woman Walking - Aileen review by griggs
I've generally found Nick Broomfield exploitative and voyeuristic, but here he turns that lens on the parade of grifters living off Aileen Wuornos's misery — the dodgy lawyer, the born-again "mother figure" — and what he exposes is far more unsettling than any true-crime retread has a right to be. It's scrappy and ethically wobbly in places, but that messiness is sort of the point.
Broomfield's follow-up finds him back in Wuornos's orbit as her execution looms, and while it retreads some familiar ground, the footage of Aileen herself — visibly unravelling, raging at the camera — is genuinely harrowing and raises uncomfortable questions about what the state was actually putting to death. Less focused than the first film, but harder to shake.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.