Just, Melvin: Just Evil

I think I saw this sometime on TV years ago, but found it again for free on Youtube recently. This is one of the harder watches I've had lately, for many reasons.

Morbid curiosity is usually what draws me to these types of documentaries, but this one has more than enough content to make you regret clicking. Seeing the effects this man had on multiple families, and continues to have on these women as individuals makes me feel sick and so sorry for them. Stories and accounts from his victims are hard to listen to, and really put into context how some people live NOW having been subjected to this kind of abuse. The final, horrible cherry on top of it all is that the perpetrator in question was still alive at the time of filming. (He did die before the completion of the film, though. Silver linings.)

Very tough watch, and the details stick with you.

Documentaries don't get anymore gritty and raw than Just Melvin, Just Evil. This is a text book example of the ripple effect that abuse, molestation and incest have on multiple generations in one family. Difficult to watch and at the same time I could not stop watching. These family members are courageous and strong and I commend them for their brutal, gut- wrenching honesty. Excellent documentary!

The "label" on this documentary leads us to believe it is going to be about a very sick man, Melvin Just, a man who killed a woman in cold blood (proven beyond any reasonable doubt), and who not only sexually molested young girls so little it gives you the creeps, but even married women with two year old daughters so he could do this. Yuck.

That is the "label".

But the documentary is more about the family, and the harrowing lives they now lead. You feel so much for them, and understand their pain. The director is part of the family, and was able to get deep into the personalities of the women, now adults.

As adults, you can see they are struggling with simple communication skills. One, in particular, a lady with dark hair, who finds herself compromised by her own brother later, and who rambles incoherently, lost and confused. She touches you the most. If you met her, you would probably find it hard not to fall for her.

The striking thing about these women is how much they seem like women you probably work with, or have seen somewhere.

There is no doubt that Melvin was abusive. He took advantage of those weaker than himself, and probably joked about it with his friends.

The documentary is done while Melvin is on his last legs. Old, fat, in a wheelchair, obviously dying, and helpless. Now, each of his victims is stronger than he is.

When he is not present, the women contemplate retribution. The narrator, whose mother he molested, holds back his anger, but confronts Melvin with the facts. Melvin is in denial. Is he lying? Or his mind totally gone? It doesn't matter. He's now in the "vulnerable" position.

Near the end, the women visit him in the nursing home. They don't kick him or abuse him. They hug him, and show themselves to be mature, civilized people. It appears that at least while making this film, that Whitney himself had too much wasted anger for a wheelchair bound loser. His relatives had a much healthier outlook, which gives insight that is not recognized yet in college Psychology classes I've taken, that victims of abuse actually do get stronger, so to speak.

And it all disappears. All their emotional problems fade away, as they have this victory. And it is a victory. There's nothing left to do to Melvin. Now, they want to be "better people" than he was. Killing him now would just ease his suffering.

This is a documentary for the mature minded. Most of us have been abused by people with more power. Those who live through torments know that you don't have to look for "hate". There are plenty of "Melvins" out there who will look you up, and bring their hate upon you, for no reason. On utube, there are "Melvins" posting hate messages towards the family, claiming they would have done some vile terrible things to Melvin in their place.

That's the kind of hatred the narrator and the women struggle to avoid, and yet they find "Melvins" out there who hate them for not being immature savages like Melvin. "Ironic" is the word that leaps to mind, as you see these people post their hatred, not even realizing they are "Melvins".

Melvin didn't know he was Melvin.

But the family knows. These are brighter people than they appear to be, one with an IQ over 150 that we know of. The abuse upon them is the story. There are those who try to deal with it, and there are those who spitefully abuse. These women showed they could rise above the hatred, though they will still have doubts, and moments where they want retribution. The bottom line is that they rose above it, that they proved they were not "Melvins".

That is victory.

The documentary as a genre, when utilized to it's fullest, is in some ways the most powerful film medium. It has the ability to be unquestionably (and uncomfortably) voyeuristic. You aren't watching a mere creation or representation; you're watching reality. In the case of Just, Melvin, it is a reality magnified through perception, as James Roland Whitney turns the camera on himself and his family, examining the role that the sexually abusive and murderous Grandpa Melvin has had on all of their lives.

In Just, Melvin, you aren't watching a documentary as film anthropology. This isn't an outsider looking in. This is an insider looking in, exposing open and bleeding wounds in a detailed and often grotesque close-up.

In explicit detail, Whitney and his family describe exactly what it is like living with Melvin Just. I use the present tense because even though Melvin may not be physically in the lives of the Just family, they must still confront and deal with the abuse--a suffering that continues to linger in their lives.

Whitney reveals child abuse to be a misnomer. Child abuse is an occurrence with many adult consequences. It is not a fear or remembrance that fades with aging or the coming of daylight, like a childhood nightmare long forgotten. Instead, Melvin appears as a character that must be continually dealt with, something that each of the family members do in their own way, and something Whitney does in a very unsettling on-camera confrontation with the man himself.

Just, Melvin is a hard film to watch. Exposing family problems--especially from the inside--is something often looked upon by our tabloid culture as taboo, if not out-right manipulation. Indeed, many may be tempted to make talk show comparisons given the nature of the film, it's I-have-a-horrible-secret revelations, and the living conditions of many of those involved. Such comparisons, however, make the incidents spoken of in the film--quite freely and with no apparent prodding on the part of Whitney--no less real.

While the camera ventures into the dark closet of the Just family, it does not remain entirely in the shadow of evil. The horrible happenings are fused with the humor and life of the family, at times giving the film an air of the surreal. True--it's hard to laugh, but sometimes it's hard not to.

Ultimately, Just, Melvin is not only an involving human story; it's an exploration of documentary and it's many facets. It's film, it's reality, it's confession, it's catharsis. There's a lot of pain and, oddly enough, humour. It's documentary fully utilized, a process made to watch, a means of telling to achieve not only healing, but awareness and, finally, justice.

There are some rough parts to watch, such as seeing some of Ron's relatives sink lower into their misery and not being able (or choosing not) to find a way out to help themselves or their own children. One man started a powerful fall for his family, and it was good to see one victim confront the evil. Melvin thought he did nothing wrong, and unfortunately, most of his kids also thought he did nothing wrong. Melvin is a prime example of someone who should not contribute to the "gene pool." It was unfortunate to see that his reign of terror did not end with his death or convalescence, but at least it has begun to stop with Ron's generation. I would recommend this movie for anyone who has had some form of sexual abuse in his/her life, and see what can be done to escape it.