When «Leaving Neverland» was screened in January at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, the reaction on social media from those who were there was swift and…
When «Leaving Neverland» was screened in January at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, the reaction on social media from those who were there was swift and blunt.
«It’s halftime at the four-hour Michael Jackson doc and I’m already gonna need 400 showers to ever feel clean again,» tweeted IndieWire film critic David Erlich.
Having seen the two-part documentary that airs Sunday and Monday on HBO, I can vouch for that shattering feeling. «Leaving Neverland» is a bombshell of a film that could damage the legacy of Jackson in ways no print reports or other TV specials have done before now.
It’s beyond disturbing to watch as two men describe — in excruciating, shockingly specific detail — the sexual abuse they allegedly experienced as boys from the late King of Pop.
That impact will be amplified by the fact that the #metoo movement has made the world a different place. It’s no longer easy to discredit accusers by arguing they’re only in it for the fame or money. Open secrets about celebrity predators aren’t so secret anymore.
Just ask Harvey Weinstein or Bill Cosby, who are now associated with the onslaught of allegations made against them (and in Cosby’s case, a conviction), not their show business achievements. After this documentary, Jackson is likely to be remembered as a child molester first, a music genius second.
Director Dan Reed («Three Days of Terror: The Charlie Hebdo Attacks») chronicles the stories of Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who were befriended by Jackson as boys and are now married and fathers themselves.
Robson, 36, who had learned all of Jackson’s dance moves by age seven, says he was five when the abuse started. Safechuck, 40, who starred with Jackson in a Pepsi commercial, says it began when he was 10. According to their accounts, the superstar followed the same pattern: After gaining their trust and grooming them to be emotionally attached to him, he convinced them that what was happening was OK and scared them into not telling anyone about it.
It’s an awful litany of psychological and physical violations, but the interviews with the men and their mothers, siblings and wives — if you believe them — help explain the overwhelming power of Jackson’s charisma and influence.
