Critic Reviews

Netflix has assembled a compelling film, but they have no excuse not to. ... The interviewees offer little in the way of clipped stoicism, and lot of Gothic lyricism. Sophie had a macabre streak, we learn, and was visited by premonitions of her death.

There are just so many bombshells, so many characters who could have walked from the pages of Flann O’Brien or Truman Capote. It’s In Cold Blood meets Father Ted: a blood-streaked yarn that is at times too heartbreaking to watch and too weird to be true.

Through pictures, videos, and remembrances from those who knew and loved her, Dower empathetically pays tribute to her memory as a complex and conflicted figure whose demise forever shattered so many others’ lives. When Georges remarks that there can never be true justice when discussing the death of one’s own daughter, Netflix’s latest true crime affair taps into the enduring, agonizing human cost of such senseless tragedies.

Because of the twist at the end of the first episode and the series’ relative brevity, watching Sophie: A Murder In West Cork should be worth your time.

If the film lacked the surprising revelations and investigative deep dives seen in the top echelons of true crime reporting, it should find its place as a sensitive and moving attempt to sketch the outlines of horror and grief.