“The Staircase”

I just finished watching all six hours of the documentary mini-series “The Staircase,” which is the only visual document—I know of—that traces the evolution of a court case on microscopic and macroscopic levels. It begins with a chilling 911 recording of Michael Peterson begging for help as his wife lies bleeding to death. From there it becomes part personal diary and part fly on the wall view of procedural minutiae as Michael is charged with beating his wife to death while contending it was an accidental fall down their staircase.

One of its most interesting aspects is the way it balances small, personal scenes of family grieving as well as big “set-pieces” of criminal investigation. These two threads intersect in an unsettling scene when the defense lawyers play recorded moans and screams from a stereo at the base of the staircase to find out if Michael could have heard his wife’s pleas for help. The recording is unrelenting, going up in volume then down in volume, yelling, murmurs, echoing off the surrounding walls still covered in dried blood. All the while her kids are a room away listening to a phantom version of their mother pleading for help.

Now, I’m not going to spoil it for you and tell you how the case ended and I suggest not even trying to look up the case online. Part of the experience of “The Staircase” is the journey. A journey full of movie-like twists and mystery novel turns with a human core. It’s not a spoiler to say we never find out what truly happened at the bottom of that staircase and that’s one of the tragedies. Despite being one of the longest trials in North Carolina history you never quite feel satisfied with how it turns out. Questions still linger, images still haunt and the idea that your life can be in the hands of 12 strangers no matter how much you can or can’t prove, still stays with you.

It’s definitely one to experience and I suggest you see it as soon as you can. More info here.