Comment

A Wilderness of Error

the Trials of Jeffrey MacDonald
JCS3F
Oct 15, 2012JCS3F rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
An excellent foray into non-fiction by documentary filmmaker, Errol Morris. To the extent possible, Morris emotionally distances himself from a highly charged case and presents the facts as the plainly as possible. Three conclusions quickly become clear: 1) The crime scene was irretrievably compromised, 2) at a minimum MacDonald did not receive a fair trial and has served 40 years as a consequence, and 3) given the confessions of Stoeckley and Mitchell and the complete lack of motive for MacDonald, odds are Jeffrey MacDonald is actually innocent. 'A Wilderness of Error' is at its finest as an examination of narrative fallacy, a favorite concept of Nassim Taleb. People are perpetually vulnerable to cohesive stories, even in the face of sometimes overwhelmingly contradictory evidence. And that is the mystery and tragedy of the case. With a compelling enough story, the evidence becomes literally and figuratively disposable.