Rewind
- Director: Sasha Joseph Neulinger
- Producer: Cindy Meehl; Robert Schneeweis; Thomas Winston
CGiii Comment
This is trauma. This is traumatic. This is disturbing.
It's personal...it is catharsis. It shames the American judicial system. It shames the Jewish hierarchy...and, it throws up a great big unavoidable question...that is addressed but never asked, nor answered!
Would you allow men [i.e family members] who abused you...to be alone in a bedroom with your [young] son and [younger] daughter? Of course you wouldn't. This father did...and, his son and daughter were abused for years by the very same men who had abused him. Two were eventually jailed, the other one got 'off' with a plea bargain [because he was very well connected and a cantor in the synagogue]...that's the American judicial system for you!
Systemic child abuse. So, let's get rid of that stupid word 'systemic' and call this what it is... inherited abuse.
The 'father' says he thought about taking his own life...but, couldn't...because, he loved his kids too much. He never loved them enough. This [once] joyous little boy's behaviour changed radically. Did no warning bells ring? Did no memories come flooding back in a torrent? Why did you do nothing?!?
Enough...this is a film that will raise hackles.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
In Sasha Joseph Neulinger’s Rewind, the power of hindsight is in revealing warning signs we missed. With the help of family videos, the film shows Sasha’s childhood shift from tender to volatile over a period of a few years. But as the film tries to make sense of his psychology, we learn Sasha’s painful secret: the ongoing sexual abuse he was subjected to at the hands of several family members. What follows is a series of revelations about the family’s history of abuse, and unjust legal proceedings in caring for child victims. Recalling the intimacy and frankness of other family relationship documentaries such as Tarnation and Capturing the Friedmans, Rewind gives brave voice to a survival story told by Sasha and his family. What starts as a cautionary tale about the capacity for those closest to us to cause grave harm, the film is ultimately about personal resilience and a demand for a better justice system.