Catching the Black Widow (2017) Reviews

• a good watch, authentic portrayal of true events

  silvie20192017-08-06

  after reading available articles on this story and concluding the movie was pretty much following the same, it was hard to believe the sister becomes a detective at her own expense while the lazy incompetent new Zealand police does nothing even after she delivers them a case on a silver platter full of circumstantial evidence and witnesses. Finally after two yrs one detective wakes up and saves the face of the police and pushes the case forward. Recommended.

• Gripping - Based on a True Story

  alirat2019-01-28

  If this was not a true story I would not have ranked it so highly, but as it was a fairly recent case that headlined here in New Zealand for a while I was fascinated by the details. It appears to based on Lee-Anne Cartier's book, and is from her point of view, showing the toll it took on her to relentlessly pursue the evidence to bring about a case against Helen Milner. Helen Milner was eventually convicted, but the police really did seem to be dragging their feet. I'm not sure if that is completely accurate but it was how it seemed to Lee-Anne and it was easy to feel sympathy for her in the struggle to bring about justice for her deceased brother. One aspect that really rang true for me was the protrayal of Helen Milner as a Malignant Narcissist type, who lied constantly and was gaslighting Lee-Anne. It was as real as it was disturbing.