HBO is spoiled these days, what with all the good shows and TV movies confined to pay walled-in channels and the premium channels winning ALL the Emmys. Back in the Dark Ages (the 90's) only a handfull of shows ever broke into the mainstream, the big winner being Mr. Show, until The Sopranos came along and changed the channel's fortunes forever. I covered another 90's movie of their's in my review of The Second Civil War, and today we're looking at another hidden gem - Indictment: The McMartin Trial. Executive Produced by Oliver Stone and starring James Woods and Mercedes Ruehl, Indictment has never seen the exposure you think its names would warrant, and it's doubly odd considering the ridiculous true story it faithfully documented, the longest and most expensive criminal trial in US history, one that sparked a nationwide panic but resulted in zero guilty verdicts and went down as a textbook example of mass hysteria.
In the mid-'80's, a horrifyed mother calls to report that her local preschool, run by the trusted and longstanding McMartin/Buckey family, has been physically and sexually abusing her son as part of Satanic rituals. The family is arrested and the 200 or so children in the class are taken to an innovative child abuse therapy center, Children's Institute International, to be questioned by a counselor. As the media frenzy grows, attorney Danny Davis (James Woods), a man used to defending drug dealers and society's rejects, sees through the media blitz and takes on their defense, partially to uphold the American virtue of "innocent until proven guilty" but more because it's a "hell of a case." That hellfulness also attracts prosecuting attorney Lael Rubin (Mercedes Ruehl), and their first meeting is one of adversarial ribbing and snickering at the prospect of their careers skyrocketing as a result of the trial. Their adversarying can't equal the wide smiling of CII's head Kee MacFarlane (Lolita Davidovich), obviously quite proud of her work wringing accusations out of the children. Everybody, with the notable exception of Davis, is quick to accept the increasingly outrageous accusations, and Davis points immediately to the huge-framed 80's glasses sported by Virginia McMartin (Sada Thompson), teacher Peggy Buckey (Shirley Knight) and her son Ray (Henry Thomas), the latter of which Davis says "looks like a child molester."
As the hearings and investigations from both sides get underway it becomes increasingly apparent that not only does all the prosecution's evidence consist the testimony of small children, the children's statements are bizarre to the point of farce. One claims that the Buckeys killed a horse with a baseball bat; another claims they flew the kids on an airplane, then says they went to a car wash instead, then says the car had no windows. A boy claims that a man put his penis inside the boy's penis. When shown a row of possible molesters, another boy identifies a City Council member and Chuck Norris as participating Satanists. The one that sends the media into the most uproar is one overenthusiastic boy's claim that everybody dressed in black robes and sacrificed a rabbit, drinking its blood. And to think that some townspeople had set fire to the preschool before the trial even started - thank God the family was protected from the outside.
All of CII's sessions were videotaped, and as Davis looks over the sessions he notices something very striking - the techniques used by the therapists are less encouraging the truth and more coercing the right answers out. His hypothesis is that the therapists were fed a general claim of abuse from the parents or some officials and used any means necessary to get the kids to admit to the claims, oftentimes saying that all their friends were smart for telling them they were abused, and "you don't want to be stupid, do you?" The kids were also shown dolls with anatomically detailed (ahem) dolls meant to represent the Buckeys, accompanied by remarks as to how Peggy's breasts had lines on them, and in one instance a kid is encouraged to slam the doll on the table. It's very clear to not only Davis but one of the prosecution's investigators that the children are being led on, most likely afraid that if they don't say what the adults want that it will get them in trouble, and the hearings show just how easy it is to lead these young witnesses. That doesn't stop the judge from blatantly favoring the prosecution, allowing their questioning while letting objections stick on the defense's countering. All of this actually convinces the prosecuting investigator to resign, leaving Rubin in a state of righteous frustration that only grows as the trial progresses. Davis's case only grows in the process, skillfully piercing holes in not only CII's techniques and MacFarlane's credibility as a social worker but also demolishing a witness who claimed that Ray admitted to sodomizing children and successfully turning the preferential tables not only for the judge but the jury and the audience. The most entertaining part of all of this is when Rubin begins her personality attack on Ray, citing his interest in "pyramid power." I won't dare spoil it for you, except to say it's incredibly funny and produces some of the best lines in the movie.
It's important to note that the mother who made the first accusations, the claims upon which the whole case is based, was a severe alcoholic and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, a fact that the prosecution deliberately hid from the defense. It's also important to note that she died from alcohol poisoning before the trial even started, and the entire ordeal, from the arrests through the final, merciful ending, lasted seven years and resulted in zero guilty verdicts. It ended up being the longest and most expensive criminal trial in American history, a doubly ridiculous fact considering that nobody went to jail for it, though the Buckeys most of that time in prison anyways. To the delight of docudrama fans Indictment is just about the most accurate representation of the real trial as you're likely to see on film, and even the most ludicrous elements are completely true to life. I've read reviews of the movie that accuse it of being one-sided, but how can it be anything else when the accusations are patently false? What, did these reviewers really think that there was a Satanist conspiracy bent on molesting children and ritual sacrifice? There are real Satanist organizations in America that the police could have talked to at any time, such as The Church of Satan, and none of them have any kind of abusive or sacrificial agenda and are in fact pretty harmless in the grand scheme of things.
The case marked the turning point in the public's willingness to believe in Satanist conspiracy horsehockey, and Indictment was the final nail in the moral panic's coffin. The movie is incredibly well done for a TV movie, its filming style reminiscent of Oliver Stone's over-the-top style familiar to viewers of JFK and Natural Born Killers but knowingly restrained. The performances are excellent, with Woods and Ruehl in top form and the supporting cast fully committed and at times heart-wrenching. James Woods is one of my favorite actors and he was born to play this kind of role, a third-banana lawyer who uses his smarts and rhetoric to not only win over the jury but redeem his unillustrious career defending drug dealers and scumbags. Henry Thomas, who plays Ray, gets the most well-developed arc in the movie and his performance is the most compelling of the film, quite remarkable for an actor I've never paid much attention to (the only role I'd seen him in before was as Amsterdam's best friend in Gangs of New York). The movie is shot much more like a theatrical film than a TV show, and the camera is free to sweep and accentuate the story beyond our TV-movie expectations.
The true story of the McMartin trial is a fascinating portrait of the peak and decline of one of the most idiotic moral panics this side of rainbow parties, and the movie does the facts great justice while making its own identity as an entertaining and tense courtroom drama. If you've got a spare slightly-more-than-two-hours and can secure a copy you're in for a true-story ride on the same level as docudrama masterpieces like Zodiac and All the President's Men. You've got my guarantee that at no point will Chuck Norris show up to put his penis inside your child's penis.
As the hearings and investigations from both sides get underway it becomes increasingly apparent that not only does all the prosecution's evidence consist the testimony of small children, the children's statements are bizarre to the point of farce. One claims that the Buckeys killed a horse with a baseball bat; another claims they flew the kids on an airplane, then says they went to a car wash instead, then says the car had no windows. A boy claims that a man put his penis inside the boy's penis. When shown a row of possible molesters, another boy identifies a City Council member and Chuck Norris as participating Satanists. The one that sends the media into the most uproar is one overenthusiastic boy's claim that everybody dressed in black robes and sacrificed a rabbit, drinking its blood. And to think that some townspeople had set fire to the preschool before the trial even started - thank God the family was protected from the outside.
All of CII's sessions were videotaped, and as Davis looks over the sessions he notices something very striking - the techniques used by the therapists are less encouraging the truth and more coercing the right answers out. His hypothesis is that the therapists were fed a general claim of abuse from the parents or some officials and used any means necessary to get the kids to admit to the claims, oftentimes saying that all their friends were smart for telling them they were abused, and "you don't want to be stupid, do you?" The kids were also shown dolls with anatomically detailed (ahem) dolls meant to represent the Buckeys, accompanied by remarks as to how Peggy's breasts had lines on them, and in one instance a kid is encouraged to slam the doll on the table. It's very clear to not only Davis but one of the prosecution's investigators that the children are being led on, most likely afraid that if they don't say what the adults want that it will get them in trouble, and the hearings show just how easy it is to lead these young witnesses. That doesn't stop the judge from blatantly favoring the prosecution, allowing their questioning while letting objections stick on the defense's countering. All of this actually convinces the prosecuting investigator to resign, leaving Rubin in a state of righteous frustration that only grows as the trial progresses. Davis's case only grows in the process, skillfully piercing holes in not only CII's techniques and MacFarlane's credibility as a social worker but also demolishing a witness who claimed that Ray admitted to sodomizing children and successfully turning the preferential tables not only for the judge but the jury and the audience. The most entertaining part of all of this is when Rubin begins her personality attack on Ray, citing his interest in "pyramid power." I won't dare spoil it for you, except to say it's incredibly funny and produces some of the best lines in the movie.
It's important to note that the mother who made the first accusations, the claims upon which the whole case is based, was a severe alcoholic and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, a fact that the prosecution deliberately hid from the defense. It's also important to note that she died from alcohol poisoning before the trial even started, and the entire ordeal, from the arrests through the final, merciful ending, lasted seven years and resulted in zero guilty verdicts. It ended up being the longest and most expensive criminal trial in American history, a doubly ridiculous fact considering that nobody went to jail for it, though the Buckeys most of that time in prison anyways. To the delight of docudrama fans Indictment is just about the most accurate representation of the real trial as you're likely to see on film, and even the most ludicrous elements are completely true to life. I've read reviews of the movie that accuse it of being one-sided, but how can it be anything else when the accusations are patently false? What, did these reviewers really think that there was a Satanist conspiracy bent on molesting children and ritual sacrifice? There are real Satanist organizations in America that the police could have talked to at any time, such as The Church of Satan, and none of them have any kind of abusive or sacrificial agenda and are in fact pretty harmless in the grand scheme of things.
The case marked the turning point in the public's willingness to believe in Satanist conspiracy horsehockey, and Indictment was the final nail in the moral panic's coffin. The movie is incredibly well done for a TV movie, its filming style reminiscent of Oliver Stone's over-the-top style familiar to viewers of JFK and Natural Born Killers but knowingly restrained. The performances are excellent, with Woods and Ruehl in top form and the supporting cast fully committed and at times heart-wrenching. James Woods is one of my favorite actors and he was born to play this kind of role, a third-banana lawyer who uses his smarts and rhetoric to not only win over the jury but redeem his unillustrious career defending drug dealers and scumbags. Henry Thomas, who plays Ray, gets the most well-developed arc in the movie and his performance is the most compelling of the film, quite remarkable for an actor I've never paid much attention to (the only role I'd seen him in before was as Amsterdam's best friend in Gangs of New York). The movie is shot much more like a theatrical film than a TV show, and the camera is free to sweep and accentuate the story beyond our TV-movie expectations.
The true story of the McMartin trial is a fascinating portrait of the peak and decline of one of the most idiotic moral panics this side of rainbow parties, and the movie does the facts great justice while making its own identity as an entertaining and tense courtroom drama. If you've got a spare slightly-more-than-two-hours and can secure a copy you're in for a true-story ride on the same level as docudrama masterpieces like Zodiac and All the President's Men. You've got my guarantee that at no point will Chuck Norris show up to put his penis inside your child's penis.
~PNK
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