Spacey Unmasked

It is right, of course, that courts demand high standards of proof. Actor Kevin Spacey has, to date, been acquitted of all charges brought against him; but this programme, featuring a series of interviews with men claiming to be the victims of sexual abuse commited by him, tells a sadly convincing story. Spacey's actions were mostly low-level, but clearly deeply upsetting to those they were directed against, and what we see is a portrait of a systematic predator. Most interesting (and tragic) is his brother's story of their abusive father, who may have established a broken model of how to behave in his younger son's mind. There is of course a second story, about how this behaviour was known and tolerated. You can't say this is a fun programme, but it's a necessary watch.

It frightens me that we live in a world, where "journalism" of this kind, is becoming the norm. Zero accountability. Zero balance. Zero duty of care. The producers were no doubt banking on Spacey being convicted when they first pitched the idea to the execs. We now know that Spacey was cleared of any criminal activity, and a show that was probably intended to be an exposè, showing that his "offences" went far deeper than we could ever imagine, is nothing more than exploitation of a group of men, who each have their own truths regarding their encounters with Spacey, but we will never know which one of their stories were true recollections or like those in the criminal cases (misrecollecrions at best, lies at worst), and we certainly will never get a counterpoint from Spacey or indeed anyone else to corroborate or contest the accounts in the show. I don't even blame the producers, it's the fault of the Channel 4 commissioning editors, chasing exploitative stories that get clicks and eyeballs online. Whether you find the men's stories credible, is not the question that needs answered, it's whether you can trust a production that manipulates the audience so blatantly, cutting the interviews to create tension and drama, and not giving an innocent man a right to reply (according to Spacey himself, he was only sent an abbreviated transcript, with no names, pictures and little or no context). And why wouldn't the police investigate the men's claims, in the UK they certainly have the power to investigate concerns Channel 4 execs may have had that crimes had been committed, yet no investigations were made, suggesting Channel 4 didn't truly belive the men, showing total disregard for their mental health in pursuit of ratings. I gave it 3, not 1 out of 10 because the interview sets were well dressed and lit... but everything else was an exploitative mess, the Channel 4 I used to know and love is a wreck that should be broken up and sold for parts!

Before I discuss my thoughts on this two part docu-series, I must state right now that the subject matter detailed here are not easy for anyone to bare witness. If you happen to be a victim of sexual misconduct in any way, it's perhaps better to avoid this series as it chronicles numerous people within the entertainment industry who were assaulted by former acting legend Kevin Spacey. You have every right to not watch this series and anything depicted should be advised through viewer discretion.

Now with that said, where this documentary series succeeds the most in is bringing new insight into many men who were victimized and horribly mistreated by Spacey through sexual desires. Considering that Spacey himself turned out to be a self-loathing homosexual man, the many interviewees shown in the documentary make enough account into how much Spacey's horrendous actions could have stemmed from internalized anger based on what he was. While it does not excuse anything he did, Spacey's growing career seemed like a good coping mechanism to hide away from his traumatic upbringing. The numerous stories chronicled from the people who Spacey mistreated, his own family members and other journalists paint an interesting light into how much made and broke the actor both in terms of ego and reputation.

That being said, as this series is only two episodes long, it feels a little underdeveloped as far as detailing anything interesting beyond the mere allegations and some of Spacey's already spoken about childhood. Because both episodes focus more on the men who Spacey took advantage of, the moments where Spacey's older brother Randy recollects the abuse he endured from their father and certain details like Spacey's ongoing court trials following his MeToo exposure don't feel as intuitive as they should be. Perhaps one or two more episodes could have been made to go over just how much the trials affected Spacey's washed up career, that way we could gain more insight into how the actor felt following these accusations beyond what the general media thought otherwise. Some more anecdotes might have benefited this series in the long run.

Regardless of the flaws, I would still recommend this to anyone who doesn't know much about how appalling of a human being Kevin Spacey was during his career, and arguably now. It's one thing to coast through your life trying to cope with your internalized hatred and loathing, but to take it out on others is never ok and this series at least had the insight to demonstrate that in an unsentimental yet convincing manner. Enter with caution but remember that it's worth it for at least some of the anecdotal information.

I think the documentary so far, two episodes, is shocking to say the least. This type of behavior is probably more common than people think. The industry is tough and people do pull power plays on people to get what they want. The Documentary is based on a number of men that haven't been to court, but lives have been negatively affected by the interactions with this person. Mr. Spacey's up bringing seems to be at his core, you have to watch to see what I am referring too. I was struck by the look in the eyes of Mr. Spacey, they to me anyway look evil. Sorry, but watching this, I can't imagine that he is not more like his character in Seven than how he is portrayed on screen doing interviews or those creepy YouTube videos. I have never watched House of Cards, figured I would get around to it in time, but I won't watch anything with him in it. I felt very bad for the people trying to get into the business and being preyed upon by people like this. It's really sad and life changing for the victims. Watch the first episode, and you will feel like you need to go scrub with soap in the shower.

If the accounts are correct and to be believed it would apear that Spacey may well have sexually harassed individuals . However the problem with this documenttary isn't that it hasn't been well researched nor is it lacking apparently credible victims and witnesses , its more the fact that its the same old same old . By that I mean it doesn't provide anything new , I feel heartily sorry for the alleged victims but it's the same "news" repeated over and over. Cathartic for them.

But for the viewer it plods along and doesn't do much more than support theories and ideas about Spacey we've heard before and and accepted .

To be fair the insight of his childhood was interesting as was the interview with his brother although that was a little inconclusive.