Well -kept: a national scandal review: a shocking film that is associated with political complexity

“Starrer was involved in the rape of Great Britain,” tweeted Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, on January 3. this year. He accused the Prime Minister of failing to solve problems with the care and exploitation of children who go back several decades as director of the public prosecutor. A flood of tweets has re -spent the public interest in the case Well -kept: a national scandal.

The care scandal in Great Britain – which is often perceived as activities in Rotherham between the 1980s and 2013, but, as this film shows, is widespread – is a complex topic. It crossed the racial lines of the perpetrators mostly British-Pakistani, the victims often white and contained countless failures that made it possible for abuse to be deactivated. Councils, social workers, the police, the entire criminal justice system were examined and criticized according to the events. In short, a tragedy is difficult to do justice in just over an hour. “This is the story of five women,” Hall announces at the beginning, but also the voices of victims such as Chantelle and Jade, which appear in front of the camera, to give strenuous statements about the rape they suffered. This sacrificial-centered account is clearly the right way to go to a subjected subject for political profit.

However, as much as these women want to split these women – which are amazing both in their openness and their transparent vulnerability – the film cannot contextualize their stories without diving into the labyrinthian history of evil and (largely). “You won't stop,” says one of the victims Hall. “It is actually organized crime.” The tendrils of what happened have influenced many of the respondents – by Maggie Oliver, a police officer who turned Whistleblower, to Marlon West, whose daughter was cultivated and abused in Manchester. It necessarily dilutes the rawness of the five women who bravely go into the camera (some are portrayed by actors on the face; others have completely lifted their anonymity), but offers a way through this tricky story.

And it's difficult. “This is a film that I hoped that I would never have to do,” says Hall's reserved narrative. It is a strong contrast to the cheerful, propaganda tone of musk and other right -wing extremist groups, as the story has reappeared in recent months. So much has always been the case: the film shows that the campaigns for justice in the 2010s are kidnapped by groups such as the BNP and EDL. “I wanted to make another film that deals with the edition of the racing head,” Hall claims. And although the film rejects that the majority of child abuse takes place at home and the majority of the perpetrators are white. Groomed Don't be afraid of the racial dynamics of this case. In fact, it could go on. It teased an understanding of cultural concerns in the British-Pakistanical Community (the film is occasionally equipped with the British half of it, a possible misconception given the fact of how much abuse of the second generation immigrants), but the foreground of the victims means that questions about the offenders are pointed out.

It is a delicacy that may be evident from the fire area of ​​this problem. “Rotherham exploded”, a local York shine encounters because the story becomes a global thing Celebre. “My little city became world news.” Hall is of the opinion that the victims have become a “political football”, and yet the commissioning of this documentary is also calculated. It is clear that the care of gangs is still in operation, but the importance of this problem was raised by groups that spread aggressive nativism. Is this an opportunity for women – the victims – to finally be heard with their own voices? Or is this an examination of the root and branch of political and judicial failure?

In the end it is a bit of both. The testimony from the first person is shattering, but urgent. A broadcaster with more confidence in his audience who was able to do this information something more radical and enables these women to keep the screen from start to finish. But AS Well -kept: a national scandal In his title, this problem suggests exceeding the relative simplicity of this dynamic. This film cannot quite decide whether it wants to provoke or calm down.