American Murder review: Jenny Popplewell’s Netflix documentary is clinically precise and ominously immersive

The Watts family murders of 2018 was a much-publicised, gruesome affair that uncovered how curated social media lives often lend an inauthentic sheen to a miserable existence in reality. Christopher Lee Watts, then a handsome man of 33, confessed to killing his pregnant wife Shan’ann, their unborn child Nico, and their two daughters Bella and Celeste in cold blood. Jenny Popplewell’s Netflix documentary, American Murder: The Family Next Door, does a brilliant job of stitching the series of events that led to Watts’ final confession. The crime film only uses real-life footage from police body-cameras, jail recordings, and the multiple Facebook videos that Shan’ann posted as part of her heavily exposed media-friendly routine. Popplewell’s treatment of the crime is clinically precise: she depicts whatever happened, without a shred of creative license or dramatic leniency. Nestled in a five-bedroom home in quiet Frederick, Colorado, the Watts family was a picture-perfect snapshot of happily-ever-after. Shan’ann, who was in the habit of incessantly recording her life updates, used to often shower adulations on Chris. [caption id=“attachment_8873591” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  The Watts family[/caption] In a particularly personal video upload (also used as footage for the documentary), Shan’ann addressed few thousands of her friends and followers, and confessed to being “the luckiest girl” for having found Chris at a juncture in her life when she was at her lowest. Being diagnosed with the auto-immune disease Lupus, Shan’ann said she had lost a considerable amount of hair and had sworn off men. An innocuous Facebook friend request from Chris led to marriage two years later, and the children followed in quick succession. Popplewell floods the screen with Shan’ann’s Facebook videos about Chris being the perfect husband, doing the dishes, smiling joyously at the camera, and even reacting to the surprise reveal of her third pregnancy; but soon cuts to the clip of Chris shaking hands with the officer who was called by Shan’ann’s close friend and colleague Nickole Utoft Atkinson after the mother of two failed to answer repeated calls and text messages, and did not show up for her OB-GYN appointment on the ill-fated morning of 13 August, 2018. [caption id=“attachment_8873561” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Shan’ann Watts was 15 weeks pregnant when she was murdered by her husband, Chris[/caption] The police bodycam then follows Chris’ entry into the house and consequent discovery that his family is gone. Shan’ann’s phone, purse with IDs, and wedding ring were left inside the house. There are even clips of Chris’ messages flooding Shan’ann’s inbox where he is worriedly asking her if she is fine and whether he should return from work early to be by her side. The morbidity of the Watts family murders was sensational news in 2018. Almost in a Gone Girl-esque fashion, Chris called upon various media houses and gave interviews pleading for his wife and children’s safe return.

Since American Murder relies completely on first-hand material, the documentary feels ominously immersive.

The decaying relationship between the couple is brought forth via text message pop-ups on the screen and Shan’ann’s videos chronicling her apparently dreamy life seem haunting in retrospect, as if she was directly addressing you in them. But this copious video documentation, that works in favour of Popplewell, was in fact, the undoing of Shan’ann’s posthumous image on the very same platforms that she used to once thrive on. After Chris was taken into custody for murdering his family, a vicious media trial ensued. A faction of pundits even claimed that the wife was a “b**ch that drove him to the murders.” [caption id=“attachment_8873571” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Chris Watts during his trial[/caption] The film declares at the end, that in America, three women are killed by their current or ex-partner every day. Parents who murder their children or partner are most often men, and such crimes are virtually always premeditated. So what makes American Murder noteworthy? It is the fact that this story feels dangerously close to home and unlike other crime narratives, this does not provide the security of “But, that’s never going to happen to me.” Aptly subtitled “The family next door,” the film highlights the banality of such a gory action. The other factor that Popplewell has amply driven home is the stark distinction between reel and real lives, and how the both may not be symbiotic at all. Firm believers in strong familial bonds, Shan’ann’s parents had testified later that they had no clue that their daughter was facing marital troubles. What the documentary leaves out is crucial information that Chris later divulged in a shocking letter to Cheryln Cadle (who then collated her correspondences with Watts in a book titled Letters from Christopher: The tragic confessions of the Watts family murders). In those letters, he had admitted to having pre-planned the murders of his wife and daughters, adding that he had tried to smother Bella and Celeste to death twice (his first attempt had failed). American Murder effectively succeeds in revealing the chilling events that had occurred behind-the-scenes of one of the US’ most sensational crimes in the recent past. American Murder is currently streaming on Netflix. Rating: ***1/2

All images from Netflix.