With Leaving Neverland, director Dan Reed has not made a journalistic documentary - or, at least, not the kind that hews to the fiction that you have to present “both sides” in order to say something true. Jackson’s side of the story was accepted as fact for decades. It demands to be watched and taken seriously by anyone who wishes to speak about Jackson - either in defense or condemnation - in the future. Kelly and Untouchable, the Sundance documentary about Harvey Weinstein), it’s an indictment of a culture too enamored of celebrity to care about the dignity of ordinary people. Together with other recent films that focus on victims rather than the accused (such as Surviving R. That we didn’t have to hear these stories at all.īut Leaving Neverland does exist - and it is a slow, methodical, measured, and devastating rebuttal to claims that victims of sexual assault in general and Robson and Safechuck in particular are just “in it” for the fame and the money. Everyone wishes that we could live in a world where such things never happen. Everyone involved feels betrayed by Jackson, whom they considered a friend, a hero, a member of the family.Īnd that extends far beyond the participants everyone wishes there were no cause to listen to allegations against a cultural figure as beloved and important as Jackson.
Everyone involved is clearly horrified by what Robson and Safechuck say happened. Neither do their mothers, their wives, or other family members (including Robson’s siblings and grandmother), who all appear onscreen to speak at length about their families’ entanglement with Jackson. It’s clear from the film itself, though, that Robson and Safechuck don’t want it to exist either. The estate is now suing HBO for $100 million, presumably hoping to prevent it from airing. Leaving Neverland prompted swift backlash from Jackson’s estate and fans after its debut at the Sundance Film Festival in January. And the response has been deafening from those who would defend the deceased singer. This is the first time the allegations have been so detailed and presented in such an unrelenting fashion.