Examines the evidence in the case against MacDonald, who was convicted in 1979 of murdering his pregnant wife and two daughters. A Green Beret physician, MacDonald claimed that the murders were committed by drug-crazed hippies.
A Wilderness of Error is about that need and about the discomfort that emerges when we can't warp the facts to our need for closure. It's an unsatisfying entry in a genre in which viewers usually demand satisfaction, and it's all the more gripping.
Morris is asking us to consider an unlikely and generally unheralded possibility, and doing so in a manner so insistent as to make the proposition less and less appealing.
"A Wilderness of Error" is half sordid true crime, half Platonic metaphysics and in its dreamy visual way re-creates the hazy history of an appalling event with no reliable witnesses.
A Wilderness of Error is a bit more entertaining than browsing the relevant Wiki articles, but it's a hell of a lot longer and ultimately less satisfying because, unlike that gathering of information, it sacrifices clarity for drama.
If you come to "A Wilderness of Error" looking for a definitive answer, or for some startling final-episode reveal that puts everything in a new light, you'll be disappointed.
"A Wilderness of Error" offers a not-so-illuminating message that it's sometimes difficult to get at the truth that's not worth the five hours it takes to hear it.
Director Marc Smerling, working closely with Morris as an interview subject in the FX series, captures the swirl of narratives in this particular case with tight editing and expert construction.
