LA Homicide (1999)

For the first time ever, and for during several weeks, the coroner's department (Los Angeles' forensic department), opened up the doors of its autopsy rooms. The USA forensic scientist, much popularised by Dr Scarpetta's investigations in the books by Patricia Cornwell, is totally independent from the law and from the police and is, therefore, eminently credible and respected. Patrick Bourrat and Jean-Michel Destang followed the 'death detectives', otherwise known as the coroner's investigators, at work in the city's streets. They filmed the autopsies of victims of a violent death, the starting point for any criminal investigation. Los Angeles' coroner, made famous by his autopsies on Marilyn Monroe, Robert Kennedy and Nicole Brown, girlfriend to O.J. Simpson, is the best witness to urban violence. Nearly 1600 of the murder victims, that passed through the L.A.'s coroner's hands last year, were minors, often gang members.