‘Victim / Suspect’
Netflix’s new documentary, Victim/Suspect, will make your blood boil with rage. Directed by Nancy Schwartzman, the film follows journalist Rae de Leon for the Center for Investigative Reporting, as she digs into the phenomenon of rape victims who, after reporting their sexual assault, find themselves charged with a crime: filing a false rape report. But through police interrogation footage and interviews with the women themselves, it becomes clear that these victims were bullied by police into recanting their accusations, revealing an alarming pattern of negligent and abusive police behavior. And if you think this documentary is coming too late—it’s been over five years since the #MeToo movement brought down some of our most powerful sexual abusers, and changed the world—it’s only because Rae de Leon gave these cases the kind of responsible, time-consuming care that the police declined to offer.