So after Mark ambitously attempted alter the laws of the universe and squeeze a 24 minute doco into the last 20 minutes of class…and failed, I thought I would finish the film off at home. So I went to the unfailing youtube and sure enough the film was there under the interesting title of ‘Serial Killer Groupie Sondra London’. 

I had already seen the fasciniating and masterful ‘The Thin Blue Line’ and was amazed at how Errol Morris avoided sensationalising any aspect of such a sensational story, and allowed multiple points of view to be explored evenly without confusing the viewer.

But it wasn’t until exploring his ‘First Person’ television series that I began to understand how important picking an engaging subject is in documentary filmmaking. Morris seems drawn to obscure, and sometimes grisly tales of the misunderstood, giving a sane and reasoned voice, to people that otherwise could be written off as deranged by society

Case in Point: Sondra London

A ‘Serial Killer Groupie’ could easily be written off as cuckoo, and understandably so, but when Morris, gives her a chance to express her feelings for the two killers she had relationships with, it becomes clear it’s a tale of love as much as it is anything else.

She admits that the crimes Danny Rolling commited were hideous, almost beyond belief but when asked why she is attracted to serial killers by Morris, she disregards the question as lame, but then when Morris follows up with, why are you attracted the Danny Rolling, she immediately retorts, “That’s different…Danny Rolling is a person”.

So like a good documentary, the viewer is asking many questions to themselves; Is it possible that this woman is so magnanimous that she can look past people faults to see the good in them? How would I react if my loved one commited a serious crime? Is it simply that love is powerful enough break through societal stigmas? Or has this woman genuinely got a screw loose?

Of course there are no answers, we are only left to ponder, but Sondra is certainly in no doubt about it

“My feelings for danny are based on what kind of person he is, it’s not because he’s a serial killer”