Amanda Knox Case News Update: 'Face of an Angel' Movie Focuses on Journalists During Murder Case in Italy

Mercy Soriano Tuesday, February 24, 2015

"The Face of an Angel," a movie on the sensational murder trial of former U.S. student Amanda Knox, has been released days before Italy's highest court makes its final decision on the controversial and complicated case.

Genevieve Gaunt as Jessica Fuller in a scene from 'The Face of an Angel.' | BBC FILM

Knox was convicted and imprisoned for four years in Italy for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher on Nov. 1, 2007. She was acquitted by an appellate court and released from prison in October 2011. However on March 26, 2013, the Court of Cassation in Rome, Italy's highest criminal court, reversed the appeals verdict and ordered a retrial where Knox was subsequently found guilty again of the same crime on Jan. 30, 2014. Sometime in March this year, Italy's highest criminal court is due to give its final verdict on the case.

Michael Winterbottom's new film, "The Face of an Angel" is inspired by Barbie Latza Nadeeau's book "Angel Face," which focuses on the events surrounding the case.

However, sources said "The Face of an Angel" will not focus on what really happened during that fateful night in 2007 when Kercher was fatally stabbed repeatedly inside the apartment which she shared with Knox.

The movie will instead spotlight on the experiences of the people covering the trial. Its main character is a documentarist, Thomas, played by Daniel Bhrul. His assignment is to make a film on the 2011 decision overturning the appeal, yet he decides to make a film based on a book written about the trial.

Kate Beckinsale plays journalist Simone Ford. Other actors playing the parts of journalists and even bloggers also form part of the cast. The movie shows how they did their job, with focus on the competition and the camaraderie within the journalism profession.

British actress Cara Delevingne plays a fictional character named Melanie, a happy-go-lucky student abroad who works in a pub. She represents the life that Kercher (or Elizabeth in the film) might have led had she not been murdered.

The film was shown at the Toronto Film Festival and has received mixed reviews so far. What is clear though is that the film will not answer detailed questions about the crime and will not change that fact that someone was killed on the night of Nov. 1, 2007.