![]() ![]() Was she a vindictive drunk, as her husband claims? Or was she a woman so kind that she was taken advantage of by her sisters and her own daughter? Or is the truth somewhere in between? Grade: B+ If they weren’t all related by blood what would keep them together?Īt the heart is Barbara Hamburg herself, a smiling face and loving mother if the video tapes are anything to go by. For someone who started this documentary hoping to learn about his mother, Hamburg is left alone with his thoughts on how we are left to blindly trust the family we’re born into. Hamburg is left to wonder if everyone in his family might be a murderer: his father, two of his aunts (one who admits to trying to hire a hitman), even his own sister. It’ll be interesting to see if the series continues in another form.īut even within all the murder discussion the audience keeps returning to the nature of family. To watch Hamburg search for answers, employ private detectives, and show up the police at every turn leads the audience to see the Madison police as inept at best and corrupt at worst.Īdd in the events of the finale and it’s hard not to lean toward a charge of corruption, with Hamburg’s desperate attempt at control where the police have all but lost it. Hamburg openly resorts to spy tactics, taping microphones to his body to record conversations with the Madison, Connecticut police department. “Murder on Middle Beach” feels like a vérité examination of generational conflict - but it’s also a murder mystery, and the fact that the murder itself remains a mystery is shocking. ![]() But to watch Hamburg plead with his father to tell him about their marriage, what attracted the two to each other, only to be met with stark refusal leaves such a weight on everything. It’s obvious they’ve had a relationship fraught with pain, even if the obvious accusations are put aside. It’s painful and relatable enough to watch these two have pleasant but distanced conversations. A producer tells Hamburg that his father looks exceedingly guilty, and we watch the young man come to that same realization. His relationship with his father runs throughout the series, not just with Hamburg’s father as the prime suspect, but also as an examination of his reluctance to open up to his son. The four episodes that comprise “Murder on Middle Beach” are a tightly-wound compendium of information, with Hamburg leaving no stone unturned. By the midway point of the series it’s hard to see how Hamburg can trust any of his family members considering they all mistrust each other. Hamburg learns about his mother’s struggles with alcoholism, a trait that ran in her family he learns about the harsh relationship between Conway and Hamburg’s sister Ali, resulting in Conway believing in her heart that Ali murdered Barbara. At one point Hamburg’s aunt, Conway, tells him she fears the truth will cause him to hate her - and it’s easy to see why. It also serves as the springboard towards examining the façade that is often viewed throughout family photos, memories, and, yes, documentaries in this genre.Īlmost like an Agatha Christie novel, nearly every single person in Barbara Hamburg’s life had motive to murder her. The sheer amount of archival video of the late Barbara Beach Hamburg and her family is beautiful, warm, and heartbreaking on its own merits. He reminds those he interviews that he has to ask tough questions - “Did you have anything to do with my mother’s murder?” being the most obvious - but more importantly, that he wants to learn about his mother as a woman. Starting the project as a college student, the audience sees Hamburg as a confused but passionate young man who’s been through the wringer, both personally and emotionally. Where true crime documentaries tend to focus on the crime itself, Hamburg nimbly balances the story between his mother’s murder and also his own discussions with his family about her life. There’s a feeling watching Hamburg start on his journey that’s reminiscent of Kurt Kuenne’s 2008 documentary “Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father” in that both use a horrific murder in order to pay tribute to a life cut short. His goal, initially, is to find out who his mother was as a person, remarking that it’s only once children become adults that they learn about who their parents are - and he never received the opportunity. Madison Hamburg was just 18 when his mother was killed, and it’s in 2013 where “Murder on Middle Beach” starts, with him embarking on a documentary for film school. How Do You Create a Pop Star’s Mansion on a Budget? Use an Actual Pop Star’s Mansion ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |