Searching for Angela Shelton

I liked the premise of this film but I feel that Angela Shelton the film maker was a bit too self redundant and self indulgent when it came to the underlying issues of why she made this movie in the first place. I felt that the other Angela Shelton's were most precious and very vulnerable.

One would have to ask some very hard questions about her mothers role in letting her daughter move to her fathers house because the child said she wanted too because "he lets me drink Kool-Aid". Bizarre if you ask me. Ms Shelton never addresses this problem. And if that is unanswered when in fact as she touts that this film is a film of healing, then victims need to know the truth about why a child could be placed in someone's care beyond the lame excuse such as her mother gives her about her role in allowing her child to live and drink Kool-Aid with daddy at the age of 5.

As far as I am concerned, Angela never resolves the most important part of her abuse...the secret role of her mother. Many things in this movie are disturbing and go unanswered. I think its way to painful for Angela to go there.

I can say that as an abuse victim myself, I learned again about what not to do in regards to my abuser as I watched this film. I do not like the concept of forgiveness and its religious overtones. There is a certain obligation that comes with forgiveness that smacks of a desire to please god…(You must forgive) and a willingness to sacrifice yourself once again to one of the belief systems that agitates the very problem of sexual exploitation in the first place namely repression. Specifically religious repression.

As Alice Miller says in her books, " You truly cannot forgive unless the one that abused you sincerely asks for it by admitting their abuse of power and your trust." But even then Ms Miller never advocates Forgiveness even though many would say the hate will eat you up. But I say you need to hate your perpetrator all the way thru and fully allow yourself to hate holding nothing back then something incredible happens. The facts act if one allows themselves to see things as they actually are. But if you have a belief intact that keeps the truth protected then the cycle continues just in other obscure forms.

The painful thing is that Angela really wants her reality verified so she seeks it from her obvious perpetrator… her father. But he is just the ugly end result of a deeper problem ...her mother. As long as Angela lets her mother keep the lie sacred (and enables her mother to do so) about abandoning her to a child rapist then she will never be satisfied about the truth of her father even if he did say he was a pedophile molested her and took pictures of her naked etc.(see the movie for explanation) I think its interesting that at least on an unconscious level Angela does implicate her mother as a source problem but most that have viewed this film get taken away by the scene with the father and the mothers role is the upstaged and obscured.

I cannot recommend this film on the merits it advertises itself to be. I can say it is good to watch if you wish to see the inner workings of someone that refuses to go all the way and face the deepest part of their abuse issue. From my perspective little Angela Shelton's case was flat out abandonment by her mother and that in fact left her and her sister with a perverted monster...their father. I mean why did her mother divorce the idiot in the first place? Her brother carries so much inner shame about being his father's unwilling accomplice… its heart wrenching. But he smiles thru an interview his sister has with him in which she and the brother seem to patch things up yet the pain hangs in the air just this time with forced smiles.

This is an amazing study of denial about the very subject in which one is seemingly trying to resolve. But in the end it seems Angela finally get the desired attention a middle child such as Angela craves. She finds only part of her voice the rest is still choked down by an false idea of her mother. Sadly it looks like it works at the expense of some very lovely women who just happen to be named Angela Shelton.

This is an amazing movie. You can't watch it and walk away unaffected! Angela could have picked any name and that much is apparent in this movie. It opens your eyes to the epidemic of abuse that exists not only in America but worldwide. I can't wait until this movie comes out in the theaters. I will bring my friends and family and get them to pay attention. Buy this movie! Change your world. 5 words that describe this movie: EMOTIONAL EDUCATIONAL MOTIVATIONAL ENTERTAINING IMPORTANT. This movie is not only for survivors but for everyone. Whether you know it or not, you know someone who has been affected by sexual abuse. You owe it to them to make a difference. Together change can be made.

I believe sexual abuse/any abuse is a serious matter and I am very sympathetic for anyone who has suffered from abuse. However, this film is not about other Angela Sheltons in the country, it is about the filmmaker Angela Shelton and her suffering. She uses other women to support her own suffering and to justify her pain which is extremely narcissistic, as this discredits all of the other Angela Shelton stories. The filmmaker constantly cuts other women off in the middle of their sentences in order to "one up" their stories. The documentary is very choppy and hard to follow-she throws in photos of herself in dramatic poses, sometimes even sexualizing herself (very ironic considering the point of the film). When Angela meets women in the South with very southern accents, she changes her accent dramatically--when she speaks to the camera about herself, she has no accent whatsoever, what's up with that? The women who she interviews have some great words and advice to give, but it seems to constantly be discredited. There was one point in the film where one of the Angela Sheltons tells the filmmaker that she'd given her the best day of her life and changed it in a very significant way, the filmmaker explains that her words were nice, but she wanted HER life changed... I was really irritated with the filmmaker Angela Shelton. She seemed very inconsiderate and did not know how to produce a film.

Filmmaker Angela Shelton turns the camera on herself as she searches to find what others with the same name experience in different parts of the country. What she finds, seemingly by accident, is that more than half of the Angela Sheltons she meets have been raped, beaten, or molested. This is representative of the 1 in 3 women in the USA who will experience violence in her lifetime. I am the author of a book on the same topic (Beyond the Tears: A True Survivor's Story) so I can testify to the courage and commitment it took for Angela Shelton to bring these dark secrets to light. Anyone viewing this film, whether or not they have been abused, will experience insight, enlightenment, and inspiration. Bravo to Angela Shelton for opening lines of communication with this excellent documentary!

Everyone should make the time for this movie. You will not regret it. Angela has captured the unfortunate truth of abuse but also shows that we can all triumph and win the fight against abuse if we pull together. You will be determined to start your journey from victim to survivor after you see this movie.It is a movie that you will not want to watch just once. Every time you see it, you get a little more out of it. It is almost like a little dose of therapy because you feel a little better after watching it each time. You realize that you are not alone and even if you cry, you will laugh just as much. Thanks to Angela for speaking up, shedding some light and giving us hope for our future.