Truth and Lies: The Menendez Brothers Review

The Menendez brothers are one of the most known duos in true crime. Erik Menendez, 50, and Lyle Menendez, 53, are serving life sentences for killing their parents in 1989. The ABC documentary “Truth and Lies: The Menendez Brothers” revealed the trauma and abuse the brothers lived through.

Erik and Lyle are the sons of Jose and Mary Menendez. Jose was a movie executive in Hollywood. The Menendez family lived a very wealthy and lavish lifestyle. Jose was an immigrant from Cuba and made a name for himself. From an outside perspective, they were living the American dream. To the public, Erik and Lyle were two spoiled brats living off of daddy’s money. Behind closed doors, everything was different.

According to the documentary, Erik and Lyle claimed they went to the movies together and returned home to both their parents being shot on Aug. 20, 1989. The brothers continued to spend millions of dollars even after their parents’ death. Eventually, they turned themselves in for killing their parents. The documentary does a good job of showing the most emotional clips from their trial. Some people speculate the brothers were eager to inherit the family wealth, so they killed their parents for the money. This documentary mainly focuses on the self-defense stance of the brothers. According to Erik and Lyle, they suffered verbal, sexual, and physical abuse from their parents. The Menendez brothers claim that after years of torment, they acted on impulsion and made the biggest mistake of their lives. 

The documentary paints the Menendez brothers as young and naive. It was very informative and gave details about the case many people overlooked. The documentary shed light on the assault the brothers faced from their parents. It may be difficult to come to a conclusion on this case. Was it murder, self-defense, or revenge?