Just finished "Fantastic Lies" and I give it four thumbs down. The producer certainly had an angle and she was going to force it, hell or high water. One important piece of why people in Durham and at Duke was completely ignored. She talked to the neighbor that essentially said that they had lots of parties but the fact is that at that time Duke lacrosse was a menace to that campus unseen anywhere else in college athletics. The Duke lacrosse team had 36 separate disciplinary incidences the previous three years leading up to the false accusation. 3freaking6, that's once a month for three years. I can't imagine what the outcry would be if that happened to Miami or USC football. One of the mother's said Duke basketball wouldn't have had to cancel their season if that happened to him, she's probably right but I can assure you that Duke basketball or any other basketball team wouldn't have 36 disciplinary issues in three years.
Pressler had no control of that program, he should have been fired, making him out to be a martyr is ridiculous. Yes, it was a shame that Mangum lied about those three players but to not paint the entire picture of the undercurrent of what was happening on a daily basis with that team and what happened that night was pretty unforgivable. Did they not mention Kim Roberts because they would have had to give her context? Everyone that is old enough to have any memories of 2006 know the players were vindicated so I'm confused about why this was made. Why did we have to watch two hours of parent interviews? We already know that Mangum lied, Nifong was crooked, and the media and schools jumped to some conclusions.
Finally they mentioned several times that Mangum was in college, more than the previous incidences of trouble with the lacrosse team, why was it never mentioned that she didn't attend Duke? It was framed that she had to sit amongst these dudes and that is far from true.