Do Sonho ao Pesadelo

I saw this movie in a psych class and I thought it was wonderful. It was very educational and I don't think it should be compared to the McMartin trial. In the movie the people being accused weren't punished nearly severe enough and watching it was upsetting but much better than ignoring a hard subject matter. I would recommend anyone to see it. It's important to be informed about things like that and this movie did a horrible wonderful job of doing that.

This movie was terrible. It was so very terrible.

Most annoying was the way the trial was conducted. The defense attorney is allowed to ramble on and on when questioning a witness without the prosecution making any objections. He attacks the children brought to give testimony with cruel ferociousness and repeatedly yells at them that they're lying. These just aren't things that they subject children who have been sexually abused to. The trial is silly and it ruins the whole movie...(Law & Order has spoiled me for courtroom accuracy-ness).

A phoned-in cash-in of tabloid stories at the time, this film offers few crumbs of truth and little insight, not to mention no muffin man. Rather, it portrays an endevour recklessly persued by the film's supposed protagonists; children are woken from their sleep to answer traumatizing questions by their parents, and therapists ask more disturbing questions nonchalantly with dolls as props. Overall, this is just as entertaining as it is credible, and the so-bad-it's-good trope doesn't apply here. In fact, even Pam Dawber (Mork & Mindy) looks bored. The X-Files did something similar to this a few years after which was more interesting.

Being a victim myself, every parent should be aware of the signs. This might be a good example. Maybe watch this one with your child, talk with them about the movie and look for the signs.

I have to confess that this film scared the pants off of me. This was mostly from the stand point that things can go on in our world like this, and we don't even see them.

Whether or not this is based on the McMartin trial is immaterial. The point is that abuse occurs in this world, and the sad reality is that it can be performed by the kindly grandmother who lives next door as well as anyone. To shrug that off by saying it was produced to assure that a famous court case was not judged fairly is to deny the horror that some people go though on a daily basis. Whether that be by systematic or organized abuse in our preschools or the drunken father or mother in the child's home, it happens.

While the adult performances in and the direction of this film are not exactly top-notch, I had to hand it to the kids (Brian Bonsall and Stephen Dorff). They did a fantastic job.