What are the murders of the yogurt store, the new and traumatic “true crime” HBO Max

Murders of the Yogurt store Margaret Brown, new True crime out of four delivery available in HBO MaxHe enters the criminal episode, which Texas forever noted. In 1991, four -fold murder in Austin changed the image that he had a city. It was the murder of four teenagers in the yogurt store, which was surprised by their violence. Victims, two workers from the premises and two of their friends, in addition to sexual violence, were shot in the neck. Then the place where they caught fire, erasing the key tests.

Margaret Brown does not submit the case as a simple police puzzle, but as a turning point for the community. From the very beginning, production suggests that the viewer know not only the facts, but also to understand what the emotional effect that he had on the involved people. Direct approach: there is no sensational reconstruction or manipulative soundtrack, but the constant use of the material The file and current interviews that invite to observe, listen and process.

Thus, this is an investigation intended more for thought than for immediate intrigue. This, although the weight of secrets – the case is still unresolved – is always present. What allows the director to make some fundamental decisions that go away Murders of the Yogurt store ordinary formula True crimeTherefore, the field, although the crime was cruel, and, of course, the details scare. In addition to being connected, shut up and executed, everything seems to indicate that at least one of the victims I was alive during the fire.

Respectful view of a difficult case

Nevertheless, the majority are interested in the director, is before and after, the contrast between anodic routine and inexplicable violence. Austin, in 1991, did not have a reputation as a dangerous city; This case has broken this perception. Murders of the Yogurt store Saves evidence of that time, for example, a young man who summarizes the collective distrust, saying: “This does not happen in the yogurt store.” This clash between normal and terrible is one of the tops of history. A sober tone, even sometimes cold, prevents the manifestation of tragedy as a show. Thus, the incidence is not a currency, but a memory.

One of the most alarming moments that are dedicated to the series is the disaster in a police investigation. The figure of the former detective Hector Planko, at that time, considered an exceptional respondent, appears as a symbol of how the case can spin from the inside. Finally, Palanko was fired a few weeks after he suggested an investigation accused of receiving false confessions. Over time, other suspects went through the same scheme: Applications that seemed inquitoring, and then demonstrated invalid.

In the late nineties, two men were convicted. But years later, sentences were canceled by legal violations and the appearance of DNA tests aimed at a person, never identified. Brown does not blow up judicial confusion as ThrillerBut he integrates him as another element of irreparable damage that left the case. Confusion and distrust of institutions become part of collective injury.

Horror and pain that noted the city

Murders of the Yogurt store He holds his argument at two points of view in parallel. On the one hand, granular images of 1991 show a depressed community, still incredulous. On the other hand, later interviews They expose how pain transforms, but does not disappear.

Brown also includes fragments of interviews, the director of Claire Hui, who captures unprocessed reactions, such as the mother of two victims, when he tensed when he knew what happened. This is a fixed plane, long and without jewelry, which makes the viewer remain in the same emotional space as she. These types of visual decisions enhance the approach: This is not a detective story, but a human portrait of resistance and loss.

The series also raises an unusual question in this genre: what happens to the community when such a crime is unresolved for more than three decades? Margaret Brown interviews not only relatives, but also neighbors, journalists and exams. The goal is to show that the trace of the matter is not limited to injured families.

Respect for the tragedy in “Murders in the Yogurt store”

From the cruelty of crimes there were changes in how the city is associated with its own identity and security. In this sense, the documentary works as a mirror of how forced events recruit collective memory. Does not seek to lead to the closure of the case or the final theories presented, But to show that sometimes the absence of answers also determines the history.

The most interesting thing is how Margaret Brown is torn with mold True crime Fast consumption. There is no structure of the “episode-epizio-war” intended for Looks overIn fact, the director itself warns that Murders of the Yogurt store This is not production for marathonThe field is especially Because his publication leaves long places between evidence and avoids simple permits.

A decision that can disappoint those who expect a constant narrative of tension, but exactly what gives power to the plot. The pain has no commercial abbreviations, it does not advance with the rhythm of the police script. The documentary is installed in uncomfortable land, and His power lies there.