Witch Hunt ( Don Hardy Jr, Dana Nachman, 2008): USA

Reviewed by Natalie Envall. Viewed at the AFI Film Festival, Arclight Hollywood.

Witch Hunt is a documentary that needed to be made. In this documentary we follow the gripping story of several families that were innocently accused and convicted during the eigthies for child molesation.

It starts of telling how the little community of Bakerfield was suddenly turned uppside down when the district attorney ( Ed Jagels ) who has since then been elected seven times, decided to go on a witch hunt and started accusing practically everybody in the neighborhood of molesting their children.

It started of small with one person and then it progressed to couples who had never been convicted in thier lives, soon no one was safe and families who associated with the couples accusted were investigated. One man John Stoll was in prison for 20 years berfore found innocent.

So how can so many innocent people be convicted? Child molestation is a sensitive subject and people are out for blood. This documentary shows how the children were manipulated into saying that they were molested and that is what sent the parents to prison.

The cases were reopend after a lot of protests from the accused going as far as hunger strike and a lot of them were freed when the children, now grown up took back their accusations and said it never happened, but not without Resistance. Attorney Lisa Green accused the former children of lying and trying to protect thier molesters. Lisa Green is currently running for DA replacing Jagels.

Witch Hunt consists of interviews with the victms as well as the children who are now grown upp with kids of their own, showing how hard it is for them having a normal relationship with their own kids and hearing about how guilty they feel about what they did to their parents is really heartbreaking.

The movie was well made, the story of course speaking for it self, overall really well done letting people telling their stories and sometimes just little snapp shots of children running around laughing or just of a simple thing such as a tree with sun shining through that makes us think of innocence. They even show tapes from court during the trials.

This movie is a must see that will make you feel anger and sympathy and makes you start to think what can happen when the athorithy has too much power and they need something to aim it at.