In 1985, 68-year-old grandmother Helen Wilson was raped and murdered in her apartment in the Nebraskan town of Beatrice. The subsequent police investigation into the brutal crime stretched over three years and the effects of what they uncovered are still being felt by Beatrice’s inhabitants today.
This brilliant six-part HBO documentary about the case is far more than a Serial-style whodunit. Although it follows the true-crime genre’s well-trodden path of exploring the timeline of events in forensic detail via the use of interviews, evidence material and reenactments, it also focuses on various outside factors and psychological elements that brought pressure to bear on the investigation. Smalltown politics, inflated egos, entrenched attitudes, familial bonds, dreams and the atemporal nature of memory all play a part in shaping the jaw-dropping story. Experienced documentarian Nanfu Wang is never exploitative and during her interviews with all those impacted by the crime she knows exactly when to hold back and when to dig deeper.
The structural masterstroke of the series is to commission a play about Helen Wilson’s murder. Staged in a Beatrice community theatre and performed by locals using transcripts from the investigation, the play’s production process runs parallel to the main narrative. Any thoughts that this might be a needless distraction are dispelled as we witness art’s power to reveal truth. With its empathic but probing tone, shifting perspectives and insights into human fallability, Mind Over Murder deserves to be ranked with the very best true-crime docuseries.
Rating: 4.4/5
