C. M.

Five stars for the brothers, but two stars for the documentary. It feels emotionally manipulative from the first minute at the cost of the two men who are sharing their horrific story. They deserved better. The staged ephemeral bits throughout the whole film were just too contrived and turns it into a weird tone piece- because of the heavy-handedness of the "environmental re-ceation", the movie becomes more about the physical home environment than the two people who experienced the horrors within. Moreover, this is emotionally horrific material that DEMANDS a professional on hand during the "big reveal" to help these two men navigate their past. I'm not saying there wasn't one on set (if there was, it was not revealed to the audience- neither brother mentioned any sort of therapy), but it felt incredibly exploitative instead of powerful and moving. No one should have to go through what these brothers did- never, ever. But I'm not sure if this film is designed to bring awareness to this situation (which is far too common) or designed to get people shocked. This is the kind of stuff that makes you lose complete hope in humankind, if you haven't already.