Kali Mashayekhi
Staff Writer
HBO’s original documentary “Leaving Neverland” delves into the life of two boys who claim that they were sexually assualted by Michael Jackson over numerous years of their childhood. Controversial and intriguing, this two part documentary does not fail to impress.
Released on Mar. 3, the thrilling documentary exposes a once “untouchable” star to be portrayed as a man who took advantage of children that were fans of him. The documentary as a whole is hard to believe, because of the realization that the men who made these accusations could have done it for the money, which presents the controversial side of the situation.
The director of “Leaving Neverland,” Dan Reed, created a two part, 4 hour documentary interviewing both of the men accusing Jackson of sexual assault in great detail, starting from the very beginning of their lives. The two men are Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who both have different but similar stories in which they can relate about the certain places they went with Jackson.
James Safechuck was an innocent, American boy who acted in a Pepsi commercial with Jackson at the time. Jackson soon became very fond of him and “swept” the family up and took them under his wing. Soon bringing James and his family to his house, the abuse began. On the other hand, Wade Robson was an Australian dance prodigy, who was a crazed fan of Jackson’s and spent most of his time with the star on tour, where he claims the abuse started soon after.
The documentary has many strengths and weaknesses, much of its weaknesses having to do with the harsh truth. Robson intitally testified when he was 18 years old that Jackson never sexually abused him at any point in time and when Jackson died, he wrote a conflictingly happy message. Knowing this background knowledge, the documentary seems to be hiding the other sides of this story.
With the documentary portraying the boys’ childhood before meeting Jackson, it allows the viewers to understand that these boys lived an ordinary life before even meeting Jackson. Knowing their background and stories greatly contributes to the overall plotline of the story.
On a similar note, when the men are describing the sexual interactions they had with Jackson, the level of description they provide make it easy to believe that they were assaulted, causing mixed emotions as a viewer. The story is extremely descriptive, allowing for the viewer to understand each and every event, as well as connect with the characters.
The director did an exceptionally good job of trying to backup these accusations with voice recordings of Jackson and the boys, along with numerous videos. Videos that are repeatedly played show the interaction between this overly famous singer and a young boy. This evokes emotion as a viewer, showing that Jackson did act in an affectionate way towards the boys.
Viewers also feel sympathetic to the family members who were brought in to tell their point of view of the whole situation, including the parents, siblings and grandparents. Interviewing these family members was most likely to bring to light that everyone in these boys’ lives played a role somehow in these events, making it once again hard to believe that these accusations are not true.
In all, the documentary “Leaving Neverland” leaves viewers feeling very informed yet troubled about the stories, making it worth all the while to watch and form an opinion regarding the highly controversial topic.
Released on Mar. 3, “Leaving Neverland” is available on Hulu with HBO streaming.
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