directed by:
Paul Catalanotto written by: Paul Catalanotto genre: Documentary |
What a wild story! If you think you’ve had a strange or unfortunate childhood, trust me when I tell ya, you’re about to see something in “After The Devil Is Dead” that will have you rethinking your perspective. This documentary film, directed and written by Paul Catalanotto, dives into the unsolved mystery surrounding the death of Edna Lester. We follow her son Mike, who was only a mere five years old when she tragically passed away, and we’re given the opportunity to see what the aftermath of such a traumatic event would be like to experience through what’s been put onscreen. While Edna technically died in a house that was burnt to the ground, there was evidence that showed she was stabbed a brutal fifteen times before that blaze occurred, which immediately tells you there’s going to be more to this story than meets the eye.
Mike actually seems like he’s a relatively well-adjusted dude, considering how much he would have gone through at such a young age. A clear communicator, he provides the context and details you need to understand what happened. Together, he and his sister recount what they remember from their earliest years and pretty much instantly start drawing a connection to Russell Lester, their father, who immediately seems like a fairly malevolent dude. Like many of the monsters you’ve learned about through the hindsight of history, Russell originally seemed like he was a good guy, but it doesn’t take long before he turned into someone described as having “fits of rage,” which is putting it mildly – he beat his children, threw Mike down the stairs, smashed their toys, and even burnt many of their things in backyard bonfires. Despite a decent upbringing of his own, somewhere along the way, Russell seemed to completely disconnect from what reality should be, and he ended up making the lives of his children a living hell, causing even more trauma than they had already suffered. From my personal perspective, doesn’t that make Russell even more of an a**hole? After losing their mother, this guy somehow decides that these kids hadn’t gone through enough. Wtf! Ultimately, this is one of those films you see that…it’s like…almost hard to say you ‘enjoyed’ watching it, because you’re actually watching the real pain of many people play out right in front of you. It is what it is in that regard, and, for better or worse, there are so many horrific stories out there that we have to be vigilant not to become too numb to what we see, but realistic about how & why they affect us as viewers. I like my true crime shows, I love my unsolved mysteries, and I’ve probably also watched way too many Horror movies than a person should in one lifetime – so yes, I got right into watching “After The Devil Is Dead.” Whether I like it or not, I am who I am, and this is the kind of story that really gets me engaged. I’m always interested in what makes people tick, or in extreme cases like this, what makes them snap. Like when it comes to Russell’s descent into madness, it happens several years post-divorce with Edna, and at least a couple of years after she died, if I’m getting all the details correct. Was it as simple as him trying to cope with life not working out the way he thought it would - or was he more sinister than folks realised all along? Through a series of old letters from Edna, photographs, and VHS found footage, to me it looks like Russell has moments of normalcy, at least at first…but you can also see a disconnected look in his eyes in multiple photos, to the point where you can feel the evil you’re seeing and the chills that come with it. Listening to the horrible situations that Mike’s sister Angel had to endure will literally make you question humanity itself and have you wondering how anyone could be as monstrous as their father was. Some of the most remarkable scenes that you’ll see in “After The Devil Is Dead” are the least complex - the scenes where Angel and Mike are having direct conversations about what they had to go through and what they survived. It’s tough to watch because you have no real choice but to at least wonder what their relationship could have been like if everything had been different, and you can see how what they went through has shaped who they are today. I wouldn’t go so far as to say Mike is timid, but he’s more of a repressed personality. Angel is a whole other story; she had no other option but to turn into a warrior. She was still afraid of confrontations with Russell, but understood how they were important. Listening to her recount the story of putting a gun to his head as a teenager is really something else. Every viewer will begin to wonder if they could even walk two steps in her shoes. Then there’s the story of another sibling - their elder brother, who declined to participate in the making of this film, and allegedly joined in with Russell on the beatings of Angel and Mike. They’re kind enough to frame it as a coping mechanism of sorts…survival instincts, if you will…but I don’t know that any of us watching can accept that as an excuse. Mike somehow manages to turn out mild-mannered and kind, but you can see that Angel has turned out justifiably hard and guarded. They both had their innocence & childhood ripped away from them, and the fact that they're still here today to tell their story speaks true volumes on behalf of their resilience. Neither of them is what any of us from the outside looking in would define as okay, per se, but they are still with us. They found a way to continue living their lives, and honestly, they should be commended for that. Most of us wouldn’t be able to handle what they’ve been through, and none of us would have judged either Angel or Mike if they had decided to end it all.
Director Catalanotto really understood the assignment and knew precisely how to lay this all out & what details to include. I think he made great choices in what to show us and how to show us through the old footage he’s used throughout the movie. I loved the fact that we dig so far into the lives of Mike and Angel that we almost forget this is also a story about trying to find out what really happened to their mother, Edna. When Catalanotto decides to circle back to the central topic of her death, we’ve got so many more details that help us understand what might have really occurred. I’m not going to spoil this one for ya, but I think it’s fair to say that Mike has three main theories as to what could have happened, and they all have some degree of merit & possibility to them. With what we know & can piece together through having watched this documentary, I think that it would still be quite likely that there are many of us who would debate this tragic tale and have a few theories as to what could have really taken place. Having said that, I think that Occam’s Razor plays a role here. It is difficult, if not outright impossible, not to view Russell as the ultimate villain in this story. If he’s not guilty of the ultimate crime at the heart of “After The Devil Is Dead,” then he’s still guilty of a genuinely overwhelming amount of child abuse that continues to have a ripple effect to this very day. Catalanotto’s film…Mike and Angel’s story…it’s all as fascinating as it is triggering when it comes right down to it, but also remarkable because there is SO MUCH going on here that you can’t help but appreciate how much this story needed to be told. For some of you, this will be sensory overload without a doubt - but for the rest of us, you’ll be watching a documentary you can’t take your eyes off of and a story you don’t want to miss a single second of. I’m going with a well-earned four and a half stars out of five for “After The Devil Is Dead” - it’s shocking for sure, but also shockingly great too. We might not always want to acknowledge how entertaining a film like this can be, but if we’re being objective, “After The Devil Is Dead” crafts a story you’ll never forget. |
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