Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Behind Closed Doors’ on HBO, Another Fascinating, Important True-crime Documentary

Behind Closed Doors is the second of three two-part true-crime documentaries debuting on HBO this month. This chronicle of a 2008 double-murder in Noida, India has a lot in common with the previous doc, I Love You, Now Die — both examine cases that may be impossible to solve, incited media frenzies and reveal significant underlying societal issues. (One assumes the upcoming third documentary, Who Killed Garrett Phillips?, will follow suit.)

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Aarushi Talwar was a shy, thoughtful girl, a good student from a loving family. Her parents, Rajesh and Nupur, both dentists, provided a comfortable, upper-middle-class life for her. They came home from work on May 15, 2008, gave Aarushi a digital camera as an early birthday gift, then retired to their bedrooms. The next morning, Aarushi was dead. Her throat was cut, and there was a blunt-force wound on her head. The house had been locked from the inside. Only Aarushi, her parents and their servant, an immigrant named Hemraj Banjade, were in the house.

The police arrived to find the Talwars had invited many friends and family members into their home. The parents insisted Hemraj was the murderer, and police used that supposition as the starting point of their investigation. Evidence, including fingerprints and blood stains, was contaminated due to the large number of people walking through the crime scene. A terrace door was locked; a day later, authorities finally opened it, and found Hemraj’s body, already starting to decay. Days went by, and the media opened up the Talwars’ garage, and police were embarrassed to have not examined it first. A supposedly clear picture of what happened grew fuzzier by the moment.

Here, it’s important to note the significant class division in India. Upper class citizens speak English, and lower classes, Hindi; each is represented by news media presented in the respective languages. The case became a media feeding frenzy, and authorities were surprisingly transparent about evidence and their motive theories. Too much was revealed too soon. Local police pieced together a story indicting Rajesh as the killer. India’s Central Bureau of Investigation took over, and pointed at Hemraj’s immigrant servant friends. Public opinion formed along these distinct class lines — but with no eyewitnesses and very little viable forensic evidence, neither argument held much water. Will we ever know what really happened?

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Behind Closed Doors director P.A. Carter uses reenactment footage similar to great documentarian Errol Morris (but don’t expect this one to have a nice, clean conclusion like The Thin Blue Line). It also features an eye for detail and an exhaustive approach along the lines of Capturing the Friedmans or the Paradise Lost series.

Performance Worth Watching: Carter interviews multiple journalists who covered the case. Although news media played a role in rendering the investigation a near-impossible confusion, their viewpoints are illuminating. Case in point, Arpit Parashar, who offers insightful commentary about class bias in Indian culture.

Memorable Dialogue: There was clearly some “premature disclosure of facts and evidence,” says one of the investigators who came to the case many weeks after the murder. Yes, this is significant understatement.

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Documentaries frequently present a fascinating story, but it takes a real filmmaker to present it with artful visuals. Carter’s work on Behind Closed Doors isn’t groundbreaking, but it’s thoughtful and well-considered, and supports his tireless approach to the subject. The first part could have been overwhelmed with interviews, but Carter diligently avoids making the film a parade of talking heads, and their testimonies are significantly more compelling as a result.

Carter also must be incredibly persuasive. He interviews many of the case’s key figures — the type of figures who, in other documentaries, might not have agreed to participate. (Perhaps this paints a portrait of cultural differences between India and America; perhaps it’s par for the course, since authorities and family were so willing to openly discuss the slayings in the media.) Even Aarushi’s mother, Nupur, agreed to be interviewed, although her commentary is sparingly used in part one. I have yet to see the second part, and am fascinated to see if she contributes further.

Bottom line, Behind Closed Doors is, so far, on par with upper-tier HBO documentaries, including the extraordinary I Love You, Now Die, Going Clear, and The Jinx. Carter is willing to exhaustively explore details and context, the big and small pictures, and clearly identify issues regarding bias and prejudice. The police blame the media for affecting the investigation; the media blames the police for incompetence — and both assertions are convincing. Everyone is at fault here, and Carter seems unafraid to arrive at an ambiguous conclusion. Such is life.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Documentaries can be essential journalism, whether they’re op-eds, exposes or reportage. Vitally, Behind Closed Doors is at a remove from the media chaos surrounding the homicides — and it may be as objective a take on the tragedy as we’re likely to get.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

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