A Life Too Short: The Isabella Nardoni Case – Netflix Review (3/5)

A LIFE TOO SHORT: THE ISABELLA NARDONI CASE on Netflix is a true crime documentary. While the death of a 5-year-old girl is a heartbreaking tragedy, the “justice served” is scary. Read our full A Life Too Short: The Isabella Nardoni Case documentary review here!

A LIFE TOO SHORT: THE ISABELLA NARDONI CASE is a new Netflix documentary in the true crime subgenre. The case is about a 5-year-old girl, who dies under very strange circumstances. Is it an accident? Or was her death collateral damage from a burglary? Perhaps it’s a simple murder?

It’s not an easy question to answer. Even after having watched this Netflix documentary from Brazil. The reason for this? The case is so tainted by frenzied media coverage and a very questionable investigation. All in the name of justice. Even if it comes at the expense of (or even despite) the truth.

Continue reading our A Life Too Short: The Isabella Nardoni Case documentary review below. Find it on Netflix from August 17, 2023.

The death of innocence

When Isabella Nardoni died in 2008, it was a case that stopped Brazil in its tracks. The press and private citizens just could not get enough of this case. The 5-year-old girl was thrown through out of the window of an apartment on the sixth floor in São Paulo.

At first, a strange story about a burglar comes out. However, not long after, her father and stepmother are arrested. There are just too many things about the whole burglary story that do not line up with the evidence found at the crime scene.

After a whole lot of drama across all media outlets, the trial finally happens. And this is when things get really wild. The lack of hardcore evidence leads to some strange reconstructions. Only the evidence that fits into the timeline is used while other details are excluded.

All in the name of getting justice for Isabella Nardoni. Or maybe it’s just to create an open and shut case despite the lack of hard evidence.

Between the crime and the conviction, not many factually proven details are clear. However, thanks to the media (and even the authorities), the population demands a quick solution and feels like the guilty people have been found.

Has justice been served?

It’s very strange to watch the A Life Too Short: The Isabella Nardoni Case documentary, and feel like anyone is treated fairly. As described by some of the people interviewed, the coverage of this case becomes a reality soap opera. A tele novella if you will.

The tagline “Case closed. Justice has been done. Not necessarily” has been used, and it’s surprisingly accurate at describing the feeling you’re left with.

Sure, it makes really good sense that those who are convicted are responsible for the death of Isabella Nardoni. How and why her death came about, is still full of question marks.

Watch A Life Too Short: The Isabella Nardoni Case on Netflix now!

Watching this true crime documentary on Netflix will probably leave you very confused. Are the guilty people in jail? Well, yes, it would seem there’s a good chance that they are. Did the trial prove their guilt? Uhh, not so much, but the “evidence” seemed believable despite being largely fictionalized.

To be fair, this Brazilian documentary doesn’t attempt to make you believe one thing or another. Instead, it focuses on the frenzied way this case was treated.

Interviews with so many key people do help. Including interviews with the mother and grandmother of Isabella Nardoni, who didn’t buy into the story about who was guilty. Well, at first anyway. We also hear divergent versions of the truth from defense lawyers, prosecutors, journalists, and experts. All of them give their take on the crime that moved the country.

A Life Too Short: The Isabella Nardoni Case is on Netflix from August 17, 2023.