Mommy Dead and Dearest

Truly one of the best true crime documentaries I have seen lately. This is not your normal true crime case. It's very well presented by the filmmakers and will cause many mixed emotions as you learn the whole story behind it. I don't want to give away anything for those who don't know the case, but just know that it is just as heartbreaking as it is horrific.

I feel so bad for Gypsy! I do not understand how she slipped through so many cracks! How could these idiot doctors do these treatments and surgeries on this child without seeing the medical evidence; making them necessary! I just don't get it! I am more angry at the doctor that said she was a victim of Munchausen by proxy but did not do his duty, as far as, getting her away from her mother immediately!

She suffered 20 years of abuse and imprisonment! I totally agree with her grandmother! She paid in advance for this crime and should be set free. I believe that if this was taken to trial, she would be free.

I wish her nothing but the best for the rest of her life. Maybe by some miracle, Dr. Phil can help her start living sooner than later. The lawyers, the prosecutors, and the judge are complete morons in this case! Hasn't she suffered enough!?

Yes, she did take part in murdering her mother! But a better turn of events would have been the doctor protecting her while her mother rotted in prison! Because EVERYONE failed this child, she really had no other way out! God bless you Gypsy!

I don't know where to begin. I am one hour into this documentary, and about twenty-two minutes are left. I am completely horrified by everything I've seen so far.

I have never heard of this crime, the people involved, anything. This tale, which is not simply a crime story, is probably the most horrifying incident I've ever heard in my life, and it's not the murder itself that is the most disturbing, but rather, ALL that led up to it. Given what Gypsey Rose endured her entire life, it's no wonder she finally murdered her mother. And, she'll probably need a lifetime of therapy to get over the trauma her mother inflicted upon her. Merely watching her story, I was beyond uncomfortable, unsettled, disgusted, revolted and horrified by what that woman did to her daughter, and I was equally as horrified by how the system COMPLETELY failed her. She endured purposeful, systematic abuse by her mother, and the system ignored her situation her entire life, wh8ch is why she felt compelled to take matters into her own hands. Her life heretofore has been a complete freak show.

I hope she will be able to start a new life. Somehow.

Mommy Dead and Dearest was extremely well-received in its world premiere today at SXSW Film Festival. This film morphs from apparent case of matricide into one of the journey of Gypsy, a severely abused child. Her journey as recounted in recovered VHS tapes and interviews will shock you even if you think you can no longer be shocked by what human beings are capable of. It is best not to give away too many of the details of Gypsy's story. The filmmakers have taken care to present the story with both sympathy and nuance as we learn the disturbing details behind Gypsy's story and most disturbingly how every institution that was supposed to help her – medical, educational, social workers, the criminal justice system – failed to attenuate the abuse and allowed the conditions that produced this bizarre and disturbing situation to continue. The film is scheduled for HBO and this story deserves to be more widely seen and understood. Unfortunately, in so many ways, the criminal escaped punishment and the victim has been imprisoned by what has happened. The filmmakers have done an excellent job of bringing this troubling story to life for the public.

Documentaries, when done well, are like great theater. Count "Mommy Dead and Dearest" among one of the best ever made. It also doesn't hurt that the filmmakers have an unbelievable fascinating story to work with.

"Gypsy Rose" sounds like a name for the title character in some form of art. But the story of her life is a tale best left for nightmares.

Just when you think that there is nothing else that could horrify or surprise you, along comes a story that turns that on its head.

It is going to take me a lifetime to forget what I just watched. I also now have a new added skepticism of or society, legal and justice system- all of which dropped the ball here.

Sometimes the worse solution may end up being the only solution.