Leaving Neverland (2019)

The truth is a powerful and at times devastating thing to hear. In order to accept what you are being told is true, one has to connect what you are being told logically to what is being accused.

Is it possible, that Michael Jackson abused these two men when they were children? At face value, and through emotional testimony... yes.

Is it also possible that these two men are motivated by another means to the point at which they will tell lies in order to achieve what motivates them... yes.

It's not up to me to judge these men personally, or Jackson for that matter. I have no personal stake in this. I can only make a judgement of if I feel what they are saying is true based on what is being to me as the audience.

So, what are we left with? In my opinion, I'm in the same place I've been for years. It's no secret Michael Jackson had an unhealthy relationship with children. I say unhealthy because he had no normal concept of real life. That doesn't make him a molester though. It's also no secret that he's arguably the greatest talent of the 20th century. How do these two paths connect? Can you be both a genius, and a monster?

Leaving Neverland, for all of its harrowing testimony (and it is graphic) still does not provide an answer or prove the guilt of Jackson, because what these men allege to have occurred can only be validated by the two people involved, and one of them, Michael Jackson, is dead. The accused offer no evidence.

And this then moves to the crux of the situation. If there is no financial motivation, why are they filing suit against his estate? Why did they continue to support him into adulthood, even after death? So many whys...

There is a lot of smoke here. And smoke can mean there's fire, and as a fan of Jackson I have to be ready to accept that, but this is a woefully one sided documentary that ignores many facts that over the years don't line up with what these men allege.

This documentary is an emotional one, not an investigative one. Do not look for all the answers here, because you won't get them, and the major flaw of this film is that, for allegations as serious as this, there Is very little evidence provided to back it up, but emotion is much more attractive than facts.

1/10 for wasting 4 hours. What could have been a serious investigative look at these men's stories, is instead a 4 hour soap opera hit piece on someone who has no way to defend themselves. If it was me being accused of this, or me accusing someone of this abuse, you better believe it wouldn't be made this public without some serious facts to back it up.