Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy (2011)

This movie was good, very realistic. They managed to make it suspenseful although we (or at least I) already knew the outcome. All the actors were very good and believable in their parts.

This movie awakened an awful memory in me. When I was the same age as the young people in the movie, I was for a time living in a kind of hostel for young, single people. I was different from the others in my corridor: they were sloppy, unkempt, rude, badly brought up, smoked and drank a lot etc., while I was at that time a shy, lonely, intelligent and proper girl. I did not fit in at all. There were the usual arguments when people who have not chosen to live together have to share the same bathroom, kitchen, wash machine etc.. But it was worse than that: I felt threatened by some of these young people, who did seem unreliable and even weird.

One night when I was in my room the others had a big party with loud music, lots of drinking and shouting. It disturbed me of course but I did not dare to complain. At 2 AM there were loud knocks on my door and shouts. I did not open. They had no legitimate reason to call on me at that time of night. The shouts and banging on my door continued for some time. I was afraid they were going to break in. This was before the era of cell phones, so there was no way I could call for help, and it was too high to jump out of the window and nothing I could use for a rope.

I was terribly thirsty and had nothing to drink, and I had to use a vase for a toilet as I dared not go to the bathroom all night. Finally around 5 in the morning the party stopped and it became quite. I waited till I was absolutely sure that everybody was asleep. Then I packed my bag with my most valuable and important things, and left the rest. I tiptoed out, RAN away from there, and never went back. I went to the station and waited for the first train, and then I travelled back to my parents.

It was a terrible experience, and I still wonder, after having seen this film, what would have happened if I had opened the door that night..? All in all, I think it is a very bad idea to let young people live together in student houses, hostels and the like, without any adult/mature person in charge. It might be very dangerous.