Aileen herself, who was convicted of murdering seven men, ironically
emerged as the most honest person.
Aileen and Nick Broomfield kept in touch writing
occasionally and then last year he was served with a subpoena
to appear at Aileen’s final state appeal before execution.
Extracts of "Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial
Killer" were shown in court, showing her lawyer puffing on
a big joint, before giving her legal advice in prison. Many
of her childhood friends were also called as witnesses.
Then unexpectedly Aileen suddenly announced she had killed the
seven men in cold blood, not in self defense as she had pled previously,
and she wanted to die immediately. Jeb Bush, the State’s
governor, welcomed Aileen’s decision and announced his intention
to reunite Aileen with her maker as soon as possible. In
a subsequent interview Aileen admits in an unguarded moment when
she thinks the camera is turned off that she did kill in self
defense but that she can no longer stand being on death row (12
years) and has to die.
The film portrays Aileen’s childhood in Troy Michigan as
one of unbelievable abuse and violence, which continued with her
years on the road as a hitch hiking prostitute and ultimately
culminated in the murders.
In her last interview, which Aileen asked Nick Broomfield to do,
she said she believed her mind was being controlled by radio waves
and that she would be taken away by angels on a space ship. The
film provides an insight into the mind of a deeply paranoid yet
sympathetic person who lost her mind and killed seven people.
It is a powerful statement against the death penalty and raises
disturbing questions about executing the mentally insane. Aileen
Wuornos was executed in the state of Florida on October 9th 2002.
Nick Broomfield is an extremely talented and controversial documentary
maker as his impressive list of films testifies. ‘I try to
communicate my own fascination and enthusiasm for the subject
to the audience… the crucial encounters are very quick and
unscripted and they give me an enormous flood of adrenalin…
a documentary made for the cinema has to have a broader frame
of reference, it needs to be better executed. Ultimately, those
films will last longer and mean more to future generations’.
Selected Filmography: Aileen (2003);Biggie and Tupac (2002); Kurt
& Courtney (1998); Fetishes (1996); Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood
Madam (1995) (TV); Tracking Down Maggie: The Unofficial Biography
of Margaret Thatcher (1994); Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a
Serial Killer (1992); Monster in A Box (1991); Driving Me Crazy
(1988); Lily Tomlin (1986).
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