In 2009 Guatemalan lawyer Rodrigo Rosenberg was shot to death with out for a Sunday morning bike ride. Rosenberg may have been chalked up as yet another victim of Guatemalan violence and extraordinary murder rates – until his friend stood up at his funeral and announced that anyone who wanted to know what really happened to Rosenberg should watch a DVD being proferred. In his video testimonial, Rosenberg utters the chillingly phrase, "If you are watching this, sadly I have been murdered." Then he goes a step further and names his killer – Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom.
The truth is sometimes really stranger than fiction and director Justin Webster's I Will Be Murdered bears this out. Through a combination of interviews with friends, family, and investigators and closed circuit surveillance footage, Webster manages to tease out the true story of Rosenberg's death. It's a tale with many twists and turns, that manages to be both confusing and illuminating. It's hard to imagine proving that the president of any country, even one so violent and corrupt as Guatemala is guilty of hiring hit men to kill trouble makers, but – without giving to much away – I promise you it's harder still to imagine the truth behind the murder of Rodrigo Rosenberg and his beyond-the- grave testimony.
Again, I've no desire to spoil. I Will Be Murdered is a Hot Docs must see. Period.
The truth is sometimes really stranger than fiction and director Justin Webster's I Will Be Murdered bears this out. Through a combination of interviews with friends, family, and investigators and closed circuit surveillance footage, Webster manages to tease out the true story of Rosenberg's death. It's a tale with many twists and turns, that manages to be both confusing and illuminating. It's hard to imagine proving that the president of any country, even one so violent and corrupt as Guatemala is guilty of hiring hit men to kill trouble makers, but – without giving to much away – I promise you it's harder still to imagine the truth behind the murder of Rodrigo Rosenberg and his beyond-the- grave testimony.
Again, I've no desire to spoil. I Will Be Murdered is a Hot Docs must see. Period.