Netflix’s latest crime documentary isn’t necessarily eye-opening, but its honorable message is something that should be heard either way. This is far from director Nancy Schwartzman’s first work around the complicated and sensitive subject matter of Victim/Suspect, but rather a different side of things. The little over 90-minute series begins with a voice-over phone call from a victim to our protagonist, investigative journalist Rachel de Leon, whose search for the perfect first big story is what we’re following. Is it a case of disbelief, laziness, or naivety that leads to a significantly high number of victims of sexual assault becoming guilty of false reporting? This is the overarching question Rachel seems to be trying to answer throughout the film, with the help of the story of three such victims whose interrogations we get to witness multiple times in the film. Ironically, the percentage of false...
- 5/24/2023
- by Ruchika Bhat
- Film Fugitives
"It's only in the details that you start seeing how a reporting victim becomes a suspect." Netflix debuted their official trailer for a documentary titled Victim/Suspect, made by doc director Nancy Schwartzman, arriving this May. This premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, and also screened Cph:dox in Denmark. Victim/Suspect chronicles journalist Rae de Leon's investigation into a shocking nationwide pattern: Women tell the police they’ve been sexually assaulted, but instead of finding justice, they’re charged with the crime of making a false report, arrested, and even imprisoned by the system they believed would protect them. This all sounds horrifying, and it absolutely is horrifying. But worst of all it's true – it's happening all the time. Produced by Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements, Alice Henty, Rachel De Leon, Amanda Pike, Nancy Schwartzman. Reviews remind us, "all of this should rattle us and move us..." // Continue Reading ›...
- 4/27/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Women Victimized Twice for Reporting Rape — Nancy Schwartzman spotlights Rachel de Leon’s investigation of biased police procedures dealing with sexual assault victims in Victim/Suspect, presented at the 45th Annual Sundance Film Festival. Ms. Schwartzman’s documentary, Victim/Suspect, examines the heinous consequences of reporting sexual assault to police with unflinching scrutiny. The most profound revelation in this [...]
Continue reading: Victim/Suspect (2023): Documentary Spotlights Poor Police Response for Rape Victims but Only So Far...
Continue reading: Victim/Suspect (2023): Documentary Spotlights Poor Police Response for Rape Victims but Only So Far...
- 3/9/2023
- by David McDonald
- Film-Book
Late in the Netflix documentary “Victim/Suspect,” a police detective sits across from a journalist. When they meet, the Center for Investigative Reporting journalist Rachel de Leon has been her working for three years on a project about women who, having reported their sexual assaults, are then arrested, charged and in some cases sentenced for “false reporting.” It is her first solo project, and director Nancy Schwarztman (“Roll Red Roll”) hews to de Leon as guide and protagonist.
Bridgeport, Conn., Detective Walberto Cotto Jr. turns out to be the only law enforcement officer involved in such a case to agree to speak with de Leon and on camera for the documentary. He is also the only investigator who admits to employing deceptions or “ruses” to turn a suspect.
In 2016, Nikki Yovino, an 18-year-old student at Sacred Heart University in Bridgeport, reported that two college football players pulled her into a bathroom...
Bridgeport, Conn., Detective Walberto Cotto Jr. turns out to be the only law enforcement officer involved in such a case to agree to speak with de Leon and on camera for the documentary. He is also the only investigator who admits to employing deceptions or “ruses” to turn a suspect.
In 2016, Nikki Yovino, an 18-year-old student at Sacred Heart University in Bridgeport, reported that two college football players pulled her into a bathroom...
- 2/8/2023
- by Lisa Kennedy
- Variety Film + TV
Editor’s note: This review was originally published at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Netflix releases the film on its streaming platform on Tuesday, May 23.
If anything, Nancy Schwartzman’s “Victim/Suspect” too calmly lays out its case over the course of a tight 90-minute running time. The “Roll Red Roll” filmmaker is again taking on the topic of sexual assault in America with her latest film, which follows investigative reporter Rachel de Leon as she unspools tale after tale of alleged sexual assault victims suddenly, horribly being turned into suspects when the very cops meant to investigate their allegations accuse them of faking all of it. Even worse: They are then charged with a litany of crimes, fully completing the cycle from, yes, victim to suspect.
It’s the kind of story that should make viewers rage — at the cops, the system, the world — but Schwartzman sidesteps emotion to cede her story to de Leon,...
If anything, Nancy Schwartzman’s “Victim/Suspect” too calmly lays out its case over the course of a tight 90-minute running time. The “Roll Red Roll” filmmaker is again taking on the topic of sexual assault in America with her latest film, which follows investigative reporter Rachel de Leon as she unspools tale after tale of alleged sexual assault victims suddenly, horribly being turned into suspects when the very cops meant to investigate their allegations accuse them of faking all of it. Even worse: They are then charged with a litany of crimes, fully completing the cycle from, yes, victim to suspect.
It’s the kind of story that should make viewers rage — at the cops, the system, the world — but Schwartzman sidesteps emotion to cede her story to de Leon,...
- 1/23/2023
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
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