‘The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox’, the controversial miniseries about American author and activist Amanda Knox, has finally arrived on Disney+.
The series explores Knox’s life before and after the murder case that changed her life.
Knox became known worldwide after authorities investigated her in connection with the 2007 murder of British exchange student Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy.
The eight-part series features Knox as a co-producer. She has spent the past 17 years defending her innocence and discussing problems with the investigation.
A new retelling of the story
The series follows Knox’s life before and after the events in Perugia.
It tells the story largely from her perspective.
American actress Grace Van Patten plays Knox. She previously starred in Hulu’s ‘Tell Me Lies’.
In 2009, an Italian court convicted Knox and her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, of Kercher’s murder.
The pair spent four years in prison before authorities released them.
A later trial returned another guilty verdict in 2014. The case centred on a new investigation into Kercher’s death.
Authorities identified Ivorian man Rudy Guede as Kercher’s killer. Prosecutors also argued that he could not have committed the murder alone.
However, Italy’s highest court overturned the convictions in 2015. The court cited serious problems with the investigation and described the case as containing “stunning flaws”.
Reclaiming the narrative
The show is an attempt for Knox to tell her own story after years of misunderstandings.
“It seemed only appropriate to help the audience get to know her as a person before the false imprisonment, before the false accusations, before the crime, because that’s not who she is,” creator K.J. Steinberg said to Entertainment Weekly.
“That is what her story became, but that’s not who she is as a human being,” he added.
“When we met, I saw in her the pain that I saw in myself. She was desperate to get out of this box she had been put in,” said Monica Lewinsky, an executive producer for the show, to the Hollywood Reporter.
“But you don’t often see people reclaiming a narrative in public.”
“Ultimately, the thing that I was seeking after having been ostracized and vilified and literally imprisoned was human connection,” Knox said to NPR.
“And I wanted people to relate to my experience. I wanted them to say, ‘I understand’”.
Meredith Kercher’s sister, Stephanie, revealed to the Guardian last year that her family had been through a lot and found it “difficult to understand” how the Knox series could bring new light to the matter.
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