"Ebert &
Roeper And The Movies"
Air Date: April 7, 2001 (transcript from show #1532)
"Just, Melvin: Just Evil" (1 of 5 films featured)
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ROGER EBERT:
...our next movie is one of the angriest, most painful
documentaries I have ever seen--and it's one of the
best. It's titled "Just, Melvin: Just Evil."
It debuts on HBO cable in two weeks, and it tells the
story of a man named Melvin Just, who as a husband,
father, stepfather and grandfather repeatedly committed
incest and violent abuse against almost every single
member of his family. The story is told by two of the
survivors: his daughter, Ann Marie, and her son, James
Ronald Whitney, who directed the film.
[SHOW CLIP FROM THE MOVIE]
ROGER EBERT:
As family members the filmmakers have access to everyone
involved, including Melvin's wife, who was Ann's mother
and stood by while abuse took place.
[SHOW CLIP FROM THE MOVIE]
ROGER EBERT:
The litany of incest and abuse continues, as we see
a family devastated by this man. And what is incredible
is that the filmmaker actually confronts Melvin Just
himself, and he talks to him on camera.
[SHOW CLIP FROM THE MOVIE]
ROGER EBERT:
There are a lot of movies about abuse, but very rarely
do you get to confront the abuser in person on the screen...This
moie is one of those incredible documentaries you can
barely imagine being made. Its story is horrifying,
and the testimony of the survivors, including James
Whitney and his mother Ann, is both grave and inconsolable.
What's liberating is they actually confront their molester,
and they nail him right on camera. The name of the documentary
is "Just, Melvin: Just Evil." It will play twice
on HBO, starting April 22nd. You have never seen anything
like it...the movie is so amazing: it shows a history,
a multigenerational history of abuse in which this one
person in this family--without any resources or any
escape hatch--was just able to impose his evil will
year after year after year...I thought it was really
powerful. It debuts in two weeks on HBO.
THUMBS UP! --Roger Ebert |