Kevin Spacey - Dietro la maschera

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.

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.

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!

This is a really well-made documentary. You recognize Spacey is a manipulative predatory narcissist who has no regard for any of his victims or the harm he causes others. He only cares about himself and what he can exploit from others.

When people hear about sexual assault, they tend to believe it is only valid if it involves violence. However, this documentary goes to great lengths to demonstrate that abuse of this nature, even if it is "only a kiss, only a rub, only a touch," is soul-crushing to the victim. It chips away at your sense of worth and dignity, it damages you from within.

The men explain their experiences with this serial predator in raw detail. They have compassion and empathy for their predator, and like many victims do, they seek understanding for their predator, which stems from guilt.

Any woman in the world can relate to the stories these male victims tell about Kevin Spacey and what emotional turmoil they went through from these experiences. There is really no difference at all in the psychological impact of these cases to what women experience. Women go through the same a hundred times throughout their lives, being degraded, humiliated, and treated as if they have no value as humans. I was astonished by how similar the emotional and mental reactions of male victims were to those of female victims.

Whether you are a man or woman, sexual abuse is soul abuse. It harms your psyche more than your body. And this kind of indifference and disrespect for another person is highly hurtful on a deeper level than mere emotions, and damages ones self-worth.

Today, we witness a significant increase in women who have lost their sense of self-respect and will do any humiliation for money or opportunity. Watching this documentary I realised that if we mistreat and degrade people repeatedly in their lives, these victims begin to feel worthless and this begins to shape their lives. And finally, they surrender to this feeling of not being valued or worthy of anything, losing themselves in the process.

We have men like Kevin Spacey, Andrew Tate, Rich Cooper, and others who teach millions of other men to despise, demean, and destroy their male or female targets out of sheer cruelty, with little regard for the long-term effects on their victims' psyche. The social repercussions are long-term severe.

Humans are inherently sensitive creatures. We must not overstep the boundaries of what makes us human and helps us feel connected to ourselves.

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.