As "Take Care of Maya" (2023 release; 103 min.) opens, It's "February 24, 2021" as we are introduced to a guy named Jack. He muses "There is nothing that could prepare me for what I went through." We then go back in time: Jack remembers meeting Beata, and eventually they have 2 kids, a girl and a boy. The girl, Maya, suffers from a strange illness when she is 9... At this point we are less than 15 minutes into the documentary.
Couple of comments: this is the latest documentary from director Henry Roosevelt ("Tough Guys"). Here he examines the phenomenon currently referred to as medical child abuse (a/k/a Munchausen's by proxy). Jack and Beata bring Maya to the ER at Johns Hopkins All Children's, and next thing we know the hospital calls in Children Protective Services, and things only get worse from there.. I mean, you have to see it for yourself because otherwise you won't believe it. (The fact that Florida outsources its privatized child welfare service to a third party should be an INSTANT red flag, but hey that's Florida for ya.) The results are as predictable as they are preventable. Families shredded apart? No worries. Lives destroyed? Who cares. I honestly don't know how some of these people can sleep at night. This documentary is bound to get under your skin, if not outright infuriate you. Don't say I didn't warn you!
"Take Care of Maya" premiered recently at the Tribeca, to immediate critical acclaim. There is good reason why this documentary is rated 91% Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. It started airing on Netflix a few days ago, which is where I saw it. If you are in the mood for a medical=themed documentary that is equally heartbreaking as it is infuriating, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.
