By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Sasha Joseph Neulinger
Country: united_states
Year: 2020
Running time: 86
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8750702
Thom says: “This film is so brave and so unnerving that I find myself thinking about it and the heinous presence of child sexual abuse in our society weeks after seeing it. The director Neulinger and his sister were targeted for abuse by 3 members of his extended family while living with their unsuspecting parents. Neulinger uses himself alertly and forthrightly as the main talking head as he expertly tells his indelible story, sticking to a fine timeline, with expert testimony, horrible history and a clear goal. He interviews the police, psychiatrists, lawyers, his parents, all who were involved in the discovery, & the case as the guilty were charged and prosecuted. Sascha finally brings the abuse out in the open when he realizes that his sister is also being abused, it eventually brings out the history of the same in the family’s dirty, secretive past. It reminded me of Anne Perry’s classic Defend and Betray by bringing the tawdry, abhorrent traits that exist, in the most “normal” of families, out into the open so certain signs can be recognized earlier to catch the perpetrators more quickly. There certainly isn’t a perfect resolve here as the punishment rendered to the heinous men is questionable, at best. 4.5 cats“