Happy Valley

First of all, this documentary really stated nothing new for me beyond the Matt Sandusky angle. In reality, why should you watch it to begin with if nothing new is brought to the table?

The real vision of the documentary is how cults can easily form and easily maintain a grip on a person. I've always learned it is never a good thing to deify someone, regardless of their truest intentions. While it might leave you empty of people to look up to, what do you think will happen when you find out this "hero" aided in something terrible? Clearly the people of State College have recoiled deeper into their cave, not willing to think for a second about their demigods. A normal person would state the obvious...Joe Paterno paid a heavy price for his actions. But to sit for 10 years and say nothing and then claim ignorance? A normal person would say would fully acknowledge maybe it wasn't good to put him on such a pedestal.

Fortunately for the people of State College the filmmaker decided to leave everything on the screen, making no grand proclamation even though we could clearly see it. The only scene you really need to see is the protester at Joe Paterno's statue. People just did not want to believe the truth that and they were almost ready to throw down, mouths foaming, minds completely clouded. No person or concept should ever have this hold on you.

And here is the scary thing the film eluded to....it will happen again in State College. And it will happen in other cities all over the world. If anything, what we can take out of this film is that if you are good at sports, people will forgive you or completely downplay your actions. And this mentality is dangerous.

I was expecting more of an independent look or balance in this thing going into it, and it seems there are 25% of the people interviewed are or for the victims of Sandusky, and the other are 75% on the side of Paterno or the school pleading ignorance.

None of the people important to establishing a third-party POV to the situation, like Sara Ganim, state or local officials, ex-school officials, etc. Are interviewed which is beyond disappointing as it doesn't provide any additional context to this situation. It is a very binary presentation of what happened in Happy Valley.

It doesn't help the last part of the show is a defense of Joe Paterno from all of his allies and family. I'm sure PSU fans loved it, but the rest of the audience does not understand why this had to be a part of the film.

Happy Valley (2014)

**** (out of 4)

This here is an excellent documentary that takes a look at the aftermath of the Jerry Sandusky scandal and how Penn State drew criticism for how they handled it. Another focus is on head football coach and legend Joe Paterno and his reputation.

HAPPY VALLEY is a great documentary because it takes a look at the subject in an open and honest way. It doesn't have an agenda to prove one thing or another but instead it simply tells a story, shows both sides of the argument and it lets the viewer make up their own mind on it. As the documentary shows, many people believe that the media took the focus away from the villain Sandusky and put it on the school and Paterno. Others feel that the school and Paterno didn't do enough.

That's basically the dilemma to this story and the documentary covers both sides extremely well. We get interviews with the Paterno family including Joe's widow and his sons but don't think that the documentary takes an easy viewpoint on him. It discusses what he knew, what he did about it and whether or not he should have done more considering who he is. The documentary also interviews Sandusky's adopted son who came forward that he had been abused as well.

The documentary mainly focuses on the year after the news broke and this of course includes Paterno's death, the removal of his name and statue from the school as well as how Penn State tried to rebound. There's no question that the film does a very good job at covering all sides of the event including the reaction to the people of Happy Valley and their anger at the media.

HAPPY VALLEY is certainly an excellent documentary that covers all the bases and is certainly worth watching.

A well done documentary about how people react when the people and things they believe in turn out to be an illusion. Being from the 'liberal west coast', I've never understood how football could possibly reach the level of reverence it enjoys elsewhere. But here it is in all its glory... supported by hoards who seem more concerned with sportsball than anything else in their lives -- including justice for abused kids. Well okay, maybe they care for the kids as long as the football games don't stop and no one attacks their coach. For without football, we are nothing.

In all fairness, the documentary did include representatives from the non-reverent point of view. But it's witnessing the reactions of people who have so much invested in a sport that has achieved cult status, as well as the mechanics of group think, that make this an interesting doc. A good study in the sort of self-righteous mentality that starts wars. But who am I judge? I'm a west coast liberal. I'd rather do almost anything else than watch football.

Jerry Sandusky's unspeakable acts sent shockwaves in the Penn State campus. Jerry Sandusky is no longer part of society, and that is a very good thing, because his disgusting acts preyed upon young children is as horrific as it gets. Amir Bar-Lev's documentary "Happy Valley" focuses on how the Sandusky crimes impacted the Penn State campus and its "happy valley" society. Sandusky was a former Penn State football assistant coach who opened up a camp for disadvantaged children. Penn State society thought the world of Jerry, which included his boss the infamous Joe Paterno. Then when Sandusky's child molestation charges came into the limelight- a whirlwind of controversy, divisiveness, and shame soon followed to the campus and its city. Paterno was in the middle of the controversy as he was a central figure blamed for not reporting when he was aware of Sandusky's acts. By no means "Happy Valley" is an easy watch, but an important watch no doubt on how one man's despicable acts could have profound impact on first the victims, but also on an entire society; Bar-Lev excels in bringing that to the forefront. "Happy Valley" will in no means make you happy, but it is recommended for its societal focus at how one man's crime impacts an entire community & university. **** Good