Close To Home

"Close to Home" takes a journey into the lives of survivors of child sex abuse and into the minds of convicted sex offenders. By weaving together in-depth interviews, verite of a criminal investigation, unprecedented footage of a child's testimony, and the chilling statements of men who molest, this film exposes this crime and the difficulty children have with disclosing their abuse.

Variety REview: Close to Home

Taking a thoughtfully low-key yet deeply compassionate approach to the hot-button issue of sexual abuse of children, "Close to Home" is by turns quietly horrifying and deeply saddening.

By Joe Leydon

Taking a thoughtfully low-key yet deeply compassionate approach to the hot-button issue of sexual abuse of children, “Close to Home” is by turns quietly horrifying and deeply saddening. Originally unveiled at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, Vanessa Roth and Alexandra Dickson’s vid docu is all the more attention-grabbing at a time when so much media attention is focused on Catholic priests accused of pedophilia.

As the title implies, pic underscores a painful truth, documented by Justice Dept. crime statistics: Most abused children are molested by relatives, family friends or long-familiar authority figures. “The predator,” explains one of several unidentified repeat offenders in group therapy session, “isn’t the guy in the bushes, picking up kids in the schoolyard. There is that, and that gets a lot of headlines. But most child molesters are people in your lives.”

Corroborating testimony is provided by three impressively articulate adult interviewees: Pro hockey player Sheldon Kennedy, whose accusation of sexual abuse against his former CHL coach led to latter’s prosecution and conviction; Jason Jasnos, a victim of abuse by a family friend who later died of AIDS; and an especially affecting Teresa Clay, who was abandoned by her mother at age 13 after she accused her stepfather of sexually molesting her for more than 10 years.

Much of “Close to Home” is devoted to Alexandra and Veronica Gomez, two adolescent sisters, who seem remarkably well adjusted and happy-go-lucky after being repeatedly molested by an avuncular family friend.

But the most unsettling scenes — unsettling, perhaps, in ways the filmmakers did not intend — are those in which Alexandra and Veronica matter-of-factly discuss their exploitation by a trusted adult.

“Close to Home” has a powerful cumulative impact, and likely will enjoy a long afterlife in educational and therapeutic venues.

Close to Home

Discovery Health Channel, Mon. April 29, 8 p.m.

  • Production: Filmed in various locations by A Big Year Prods. in association with the Mark Maguire Foundation for Children. Executive producer, Donald Thoms; director-producers, Vanessa Roth, Alexandra Dickson.

  • Crew: Camera, Shana Hagan; editor, Greg Byers; music, Peter Harris, Bruce Hornsby. 79 MIN.

Request link to Close to Home (2001)