Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story review

By Daniel Hart
Published: April 29, 2020 (Last updated: last month)
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Netflix documentary feature Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story
4.5

Summary

Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story is a must-watch in Netflix’s extensive true-crime library.

Netflix documentary feature Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story was released on Netflix on April 29, 2020.


It needs to be made official that Netflix is now the market leader for true crime documentaries. After a comprehensive catalogue of cases provided to us by The Innocence FilesNetflix has now provided us Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story, a fascinating, real-life account of how a 16-year-old girl ended up with life in prison.

Netflix’s Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story is effective in detailing three elements of Cyntoia Brown; her past, physiology and the law implemented against her at the time of her sentencing. The Netflix documentary distinguishes these three elements as a reason for mercy — painfully articulating how a 16-year-old girl was sold within a sex-trafficking organization and pushed to the limit of committing murder.

It’s difficult not to become emotionally engaged with Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story, as you wouldn’t wish her life on any minor, however, what the documentary does with an objective approach is understand Cyntoia Brown from a young girl to a grown woman. The documentary tickles with “life is strange with time” and makes an indirect hint that the juvenile process is defective, and requires a surmountable degree of change to consider the major changes between child and adult.

Cyntoia Brown was a minor, flung as a sex slave, with an abhorrent upbringing that is the mental make-up to her past; the Netflix documentary wisely does not justify her actions, but on the other hand, upholds her environment as a contributing factor. Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story is a grueling 90-minute insight into how second chances can be made within the judiciary system but also how systematically, a case like Cyntoia Brown’s can be treated fairly and with dignity.

True-crime enthusiasts will be well and truly aware of the story, especially with high profile figures like Rihanna pleading for Cyntoia’s clemency; Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story is a must-watch in Netflix’s extensive true-crime library.

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