Netflix film on Elize Matsunaga criticized for factual errors

Netflix released the dramatized film "Elize: Sombras de Uma Mulher" on July 22, portraying the 2012 murder of businessman Marcos Matsunaga by his wife, former nurse Elize Matsunaga. Luiz Flávio Borges D’Urso, the criminal lawyer who represented the victim’s family, told Metrópoles that the production contains "grave errors" that diverge from the evidence presented at trial. He highlighted several discrepancies, including the position of Marcos at the moment of the shot, the distance and trajectory of the bullet, and the weapon used for the subsequent dismemberment. According to forensic reports, Marcos was crouched and shot at close range with a descending trajectory, contrary to the film’s depiction of both parties standing and the shooting occurring from a different angle. D’Urso praised the technical quality of the series but stressed that it should be viewed as fiction, warning that such distortions could mislead the public’s understanding of the crime.

Both articles report the same criticism, noting that while the series is artistically competent, it departs significantly from the factual record established in court.