Tales of the Grim Sleeper
2014
***½
Director: Nick Broomfield
Cast:
In 2010, Lonnie Franklin Jr., 57-year-old mechanic from South Central Los Angeles was arrested. Franklin, nicknamed Grim Sleeper, was charged with ten counts of murder but had possibly killed more than a hundred women over a twenty-five-year period. Nick Broomfield and his camera crew interview Franklin's friends, neighbours, community members, and surviving victims to profile the killer and to paint a grim picture of police ineptitude and institutional racism. The documentary argues that the LAPD was indifferent to his murder spree because the victims were prostitutes and drug addicts from the poorest part of the city, and the authorities could have saved numerous lives by merely letting the public know that a serial killer was operating in the neighbourhood.
