You know the film. It’s a film you have never heard of. The cast might be composed of actors you know and love or complete unknowns. A documentary that sounds interesting about a topic you might like. You stumble across it on streaming and wonder if it will be worth two hours of your time. This series will be devoted to reviewing films like these, the strange items that pop up when you are looking for a flick on the streaming service of your choice. This is “We Found It On Streaming”
FILM: Untouchable
Release Date: January 25, 2019
Run Time: 98 Minutes.
Streaming Service(s): Hulu
Rating: Not Rated
Harvey Weinstein is a horrible human being. This fact isn’t up for much debate. He is a bully, brash and obnoxious. When he was free, he would yell and scream to get his way, threaten is foes with using his influence to make sure they never worked in the entertainment industry again and, when that wasn’t effective enough, use his size and bulk to threaten them with physical violence. But that wasn’t new. A lot of Hollywood producers and studio heads used similar tactics to get deals done.
Worse than that, Weinstein was a sexual predator. He used the same tactics listed above to force himself on any number of female actresses and employees. “Lucky” victims got away with just giving him a massage. The unlucky ones he forced himself on and raped. Unfortunately, this isn’t all that unique either. The “Casting Couch” is a rather shameful part of Hollywood history that many starlets had to deal with to break into film. Legends tell of studio heads chasing nubile starlets around their offices
What makes Weinstein’s case different is that his was done in the information age, where news travels as fast as your internet connection. His power was so absolute that he was able to turn his crimes into rumors and his accusers into ambitious opportunists who sleep with him to get a ahead. He appears to control the press, he seemed to have an in with the police. He was, as they say, untouchable.
That was until 2017, when Weinstein’s power weakened enough that a number of articles were published about his sexual assaults. And his accusers weren’t just day players. They were Oscar winners and box office champions like Ashley Judd, Mira Sorvino and Gweneth Paltrow. The articles got the attention of legal authorities. Weinstein was arrested in NY and convicted of one count of criminal sexual assault in the first degree and one count of rape in the third degree. Then he was tried in Los Angeles and convicted on the charges of rape, forced oral copulation and third-degree sexual misconduct.
When the case broke, if you followed movies, details of Weinstein’s crime were widely reported. So, a lot of Untouchable covers well-trodden ground. However, the way the information is presented makes the film worthy of a viewing.
If you are expecting an in-depth biography of Harvey Weinstein, you’re going to be disappointed. The main focus is his prime predatory years from 1978 to about 2015, with brief discussions about his childhood only presented to give an explanation for his behavior. Instead, we get to hear from his victims in their own words. And this is what makes the movie special.
For example, one of the first interviews is with Hope D’Amore, one of Harvey’s first victims from his days as a concert promoter in Buffalo, New York in 1978. right at the start of his entry into film production. She relates the tale of Weinstein forcing sex upon her against her protestations. She is film slight off-center on the screen, but the camera never leaves her face. You can see she is taken back to that night as tears well up in her eyes, her lip trembles and her voice waivers. It was forty years since the attack, but the wounds for her are still open and raw.
It is powerful filmmaking by director Ursula Macfarlane. It is one thing to read what happened to these women, but it another to hear these women tell it in their own words. Words on a computer screen or on newsprint give the reader a sense of distance. Watching these women speak and seeing the damage Weinstein did to them and seeing how they are trying to overcome it makes it more visceral for the audience.
MacFarlane interviews eight of Weinstein’s victims. None of the “big names” listed above were interviewed. The biggest stars interviewed were Rosanna Arquette and Paz De La Vega. But this doesn’t take anything away from the film. The range of victims is not the issue here. The predatory pattern and the way Weinstein ruined their lives is what is. And that comes through in droves.
If I can pick a flaw in the film, it is that it is too short. At just over an hour and a half, it is a short film. With so much time devoted to the eight women’s stories (and deservedly so), there are a lot of topics that are only given lip service. Weinstein had a series of enablers. People who knew or suspected the truth but either out of fear or need of a paycheck said nothing. I would have been interested in hearing more from/about these people.
In April of 2024, Weinstein had his rape conviction overturned on appeal due to an error by the presiding judge. He is due to be retried again in November of 2024, but may be tried earlier. So, even though Untouchable was released in 2019, it is still very pertinent today. Untouchable should be seen regardless. It puts a face, gives a voice to Weinstein’s victims. Weinstein will try to win his case in court as well as the court of public opinion. Untouchable should deservedly cause him to lose in the latter.
Have you found a film on streaming that you’d like us to look at? Leave it in the comments and it might appear in a future installment of this feature.
