Gema MH

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SPOILERS AHEAD! ……… I hated, hated, hated this movie. The race-baiting is so obvious and contrived, I found myself shaking my head in disbelief during 80% of this, yes truly racist, stereotypical, tripe. I could go on about many things wrong with it, but it’s frankly not worth it. I will focus on the fact that the only 2 characters who, not only die, but suffer horrific deaths are simply not talked about, like they don’t even deserve anyone lamenting or just ask about their deaths. First, the white, mildly-bullish high school jock: I say mildly because we are truly not shown much if anything about why he “deserved” to be terrorized/semi-asphyxiated in a plastic bag and later have his face violently smashed with a basketball against the curve. Not only had this person done nothing to the elder black brother, the younger biracial brother somehow transforms into a maniac and smashes the guy’s head himself. The younger brother is a high school kid who (I assume) has no violent or criminal past, nor mental health issues, and yet is never shown after the fact as having regrets, or just even think about this, ever again!? No mention of this incident, no cops, nothing in the papers, nothing. I guess the director/writer thought this was quite the trivial event. Second, the white husband, Ian. The elder brother simply seems fixated on this one dude, who did nothing to him or his sister, clearly showed he knew nothing about his crazy wife’s past, knew nothing about her most recent stunt of buying her older kids, etc. Yet he is the one who gets the blunt of the hate: not the “mother” who cut and ran when you were little and never came back for you BECAUSE you were “too black” to fit into HER idea of a perfect life. No, the white guy who has zero to do with your predicament - that’s the one and only one who gets tortured and finally smashed to death. And by the way, 2 big and healthy kids and the wife in the next room, not one of these useless people thought to incapacitate these maniacs and at least ATTEMPT to aid their father/husband. This movie did not make me feel any sadness over the two victims of abandonment, neglect, and trauma it clearly wanted us to feel sorry for. And that is the story’s fault. How, when two other people are murdered in cold blood for no reason, and no one cares about them. All I could think of is how weak were the constraints of whatever mental institution they escaped from.

*Spoiler Alert* I would have given the documentary 5 stars if more screen time had been given to Manti Te’o, the true and only victim in this story, and less to the cruel perpetrator of the catfish he fell victim of. And if Netflix hadn’t decided to give this awful person Ronaiah a platform and paint him in any kind of positive light, or allow him like he did to provide any kind of excuse with no accountability. Going as far, Netflix, as to start the documentary with disclaimers about his “identifying as a trans woman.” And VERY recently too. Really? Spare me the semantics and virtue signaling, Netflix. The law of the land now is that if you SAY you are “trans” (whatever that means nowadays) anything and everything is forgivable and completely understandable. NOPE! How convenient for him; he realized a homosexual sexual orientation couldn't cut it anymore (he did mention “sexual orientation” in the Dr Phil interview, no mention of dysphoria or “feeling like a woman” at that time), so he later went for the trans card so he could “tell his story”. How disgusting. I often wonder why most true transgender individuals - who do exist, who do experience actual gender dysphoria which is quite debilitating and extreme (to the point of life altering and life threatening surgery) - are not screaming out in rage at having something that affects their minds and bodies beyond “pronouns”, or “gender fluidity” or any other kind of “identity crisis/confusion”, be used and abused by anyone nowadays. As a side note: I am dying for someone to come out with a story on how Adolf Hitler was trans, so I can watch how Netflix twists and metamorphoses itself into “reframing Hitler’s life story.” Just so I can prove my point… Ronaiah is obviously a deranged and highly sociopathic individual, who, even when unfairly given this platform by Netflix, he chooses to still act like a complete self-absorbed “yeah-I-was-wrong-but (insert petty excuse)” sociopath. Even at some point DARING to show his disappointment in the fact that Manti released all the creepo voicemails he left him in a perfect female voice, to try and prove for his benefit that the hoax was too elaborate for him to realize this was catfish (nor did the poor guy even know this term existed or that someone would be so deranged to concoct such lies for such a long time). I felt so deeply for Manti and the aftermath of this, so much suffering for him and his family, so much embarrassment, lost career opportunities, harassment in the media and everywhere he went, the anxiety this caused him. There’s no excuse for this. And the worst: the perpetrator walks with no punishment and obviously no shame or regret. In fact he gets to show off his wig and dances accompanied by melodramatic music in the background. Forgive me if I puke in my mouth. And the media, where to start, what don't we know there. Built Manti up, and then stuck to the “hoax story” like leeches, brought him down mighty fast with no journalistic integrity (does that even exist anymore?) and no remorse for the consequences of a life nearly destroyed. I hope he is doing well and that has indeed forgiven himself, and even that psycho who does not deserve to occupy space in Manti’s mind. Forgive and let go, but dont forget the lesson, including the lessons on fame, and the media, and the social networks, and that at the end of the day, your family and friends and those who love you and support you are the ones who deserve space in your mind.