2000

May 7, 2004
HBO
USA
English

One of those documentaries where you just shake your head over and over. The filmmaker begins the movie with a voiceover that says something like "My cousin and I didn't know we weren't supposed to have sex with each other." This is the story of a single man and his incredibly detrimental effect on three generations and maybe 20 different people men and women. All evidence points to him being a sexual predator and perhaps, even a murderer. As the story goes on, you think it's bad enough, and then Melvin makes an even more diabolical move, and you can't believe anyone is so evil. The way that all of the filmmaker's cousins talk about sexual abuse so matter-of-factly is stunning. Even though the actual abuse had stopped several years ago, just about everyone was still deeply affected. Suicide attempts, alcoholism, psychosis, all results of one man and his urges.

Simply stunning. Not uplifting in the least.