Untouchable

I am certainly no apologist for Weinstein, he has been despicable in a dozen ways, and even before the revelations about his predation on young women came out. Those predations against young women were criminal and I give high level of credibility to his accusers. But this film does not honestly explore how broadly this was known and accepted in Hollywood and how prevalent the casting couch culture has been -- and remains -- and how it fit into so well into the media and entertainment business and why. We have Ken Auletta pontificating, when Auletta was perhaps the closest of journalists to Charlie Rose, a friend and professional collaborator, appearing on the Charlie Rose show 96 times, when Charlie Rose's predations were an open secret. Indeed Rose's production company had been pushed out of PBS offices and moved to the media offices most well known to be toxic toward women -- the offices of Michael Bloomberg. Why no Rose and Bloomberg in the context?

Harvey Weinstein was a sexual predator for several decades, he used his power, fame and size to force himself on women and covered it up with restrictive non disclosure agreements. His world came crashing down in 2017 when more than 75 women made allegations of inappropriate behaviour to sexual assault.

Many of these allegations had similarities regarding how Weinstein operated by bringing women alone to his hotel suite where he would quickly get naked like it was natural. Cajoling them to massage him, getting enraged if he was rejected.

As Untouchable went on the testimonies of the women got more harrowing. Yet Harvey Weinstein regarded himself as untouchable, the self proclaimed sheriff who would use his bullying powers to shut critics up. After all his film company Miramax made a name for themselves when it came to their aggressive Oscar campaigns.

However journalists such as Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor ploughed on with their investigations and eventually broke the story in the New York Times. Later Ronan Farrow gathered eye witness accounts for the New Yorker magazine.

Harvey Weinstein's world crumbled and his company went into trouble. He sought shelter behind a rehab clinic to get over his problems and pleaded for second chances.

Some main players were missing in this documentary such as Rose McGowan who at first was vilified for going public with her allegations. However this documentary allowed his less well known accusers an opportunity to tell their tale.

It quickly led to the #MeToo movement. Whether anything in Hollywood change, only time will tell. Women and men are always going to be at risk if producers, investors, directors and others in the performing arts think they are entitled to sexual favours to further careers.

This documentary does a wonderful job of pulling back the curtain and helping you understand how Harvey Weinstein was able to get away with his crimes so long, how it impacted those that he hurt, and why they kept silent. It's a documentary that pulls no punches yet never feels overly salacious. It is thoughtful, fascinating, and disturbing.

Armchair critics who feel expert enough to armchair judge these women don't understand the crippling power of what I call the "death freeze. Really, they don't understand, they just want to feel that it would never happen to them Thank God there are others who offer compassions instead of useless, judge mental comments that only add fodder to the "nobody will believe me, it is my fault" cycle that keeps her in the shadows. What fools.

I am not wasting my time trying to explain something to the elitist hard heads who have no desire to understand.

The same old cycle of blame and shame goes round thanks in part to these kind of comments turning the wheel with their own hands. Get educated or shut up.

If you have been abused, ignore them, They are the ignorant ones. MANY other women know how you feel. Talk to someone. You will be believed. I believe you and no one is to blame for a crime against their body.

Harvey Weinstein was an excellent cinematographic producer with an extraordinary intuition. He was a workaholic and became then a geek without any real friend. He was also a boss as merciless as tyrannical who wouldn't take a « no » for an answer. Until then, it is objectively the public and well-known portrait of Harvey Weinstein before the media emergence of the scandal. Thus, this excellent documentary completes his curriculum vitae with an avalanche of testimonies as poignant as sorrowful. Personally, I was particularly moved by that of Hope Exiner D'Amore.

Harvey Weinstein was an unscrupulous and pathetic predator who shamefully abused his power. The description of his cv is now finished, as is his career.