For Safechuck, itвЂ™s a mother who came to view Jackson as almost a son. For Robson, itвЂ™s mostly his mother and sister, both brought over from Australia once Robson attracted JacksonвЂ™s attentions and both strong advocates for Jackson against those earlier accusations. Even though depositions from the earlier Jackson accusers included corroborating statements from Neverland employees and other people with variably tangible suspicions and levels of certitude, Reed restricts his interviews to the tightest of inner circles. Kelly, since thereвЂ™s still a chance some measure of justice can be done, the filmmakers bury viewers under a mountain of accusations and evidence, bringing in accusers, authorities, investigative journalists and figures who were part of KellyвЂ™s sphere on all levels. Kelly, though they take almost opposite approaches. Both were wrong.ДЇrom their gerundive titles to the coincidental collaboration on the hit song вЂњYou Are Not Alone,вЂќ itвЂ™s tempting to compare Leaving Neverland to A&EвЂ™s Surviving R. And in both cases, Robson and Safechuck felt they were usurped as JacksonвЂ™s вЂњfavoriteвЂќ by another young boy (which both вЂњreplacementsвЂќ deny). In both cases, Robson and Safechuck were accompanied by mothers who were somehow able to ignore that their children were spending an inordinate amount of time with a grown man, time that was often spent in bed or behind closed or locked doors. What you canвЂ™t see is the alleged abuse that Robson says began when he was 7 and that Safechuck says started when he was 10 - startlingly similar stories that begin with the sharing of a bed and progress to masturbation and other sexual acts that followed from extended periods of grooming and manipulation perpetrated by one of the most famous men in the world against two children whose ability to consent or not is irrelevant. Both can be seen with Jackson in countless pictures from locations ranging from backstage at shows to events at JacksonвЂ™s famed Neverland Ranch. Robson won a Michael Jackson impersonation dancing contest in Australia and shared stage time with his idol. Safechuck appeared in one of JacksonвЂ™s famous Pepsi commercials and went on tour with Jackson as a featured child dancer. Much of both stories is part of the public record. Leaving Neverland is the story of two accusers and two families, where they overlap and where they diverge. Leaving Neverland is, ultimately, nearly as much about the 20-plus years during which Robson and Safechuck held onto secrets or even lied and covered up the truth - and the damage that can do - as it is about the alleged crimes themselves. What it illustrates, and in this respect itвЂ™s the film (and not just the accusers) that registers as persuasive, is that a thing that might be easy for an observer to evaluate from the outside isnвЂ™t so black and white when itвЂ™s your story. The documentary doesnвЂ™t shy from the fact that Robson was suing the Jackson estate as recently as four years ago, nor from the fact that both men told authorities and/or swore under oath on multiple occasions that Jackson didnвЂ™t molest them. It happens that beneath these two harrowing narratives, ReedвЂ™s film is also a complicated story precisely about the challenges of reviewing the film and reviewing Robson and SafechuckвЂ™s filmed testimonials. TheyвЂ™re incredibly persuasive, but I donвЂ™t want to review them. That makes it hard to evaluate a four-hour series, targeted to air this spring on HBO and Channel 4 in the U.K., that has been structured almost entirely as a pair of side-by-side interviews in which Wade Robson and James Safechuck accuse Michael Jackson of years of sexual molestation in the most detailed and graphic of terms. One thing I know for sure is that it is not in my purview as pop culture critic to pass judgment on how and where and when victims of abuse decide to tell their stories. Dan ReedвЂ™s two-part documentary Leaving Neverland is a perilously complicated project to review.

Leaving neverland part 3