Pervert Park

When you sit down to watch a documentary such as "Pervert Park" which deals with registered sex offenders, you have to do so with a neutral state of mind. I mean, you can't really go into watching something like this and either be judgmental or sympathetic in advance. No, you have to leave your own morale stand and views at the threshold.

And I did that when I sat down to watch the 2014 documentary "Pervert Park" here in 2021. I had never even heard about it, but had the opportunity to watch it.

Writers and directors Frida Barkfors and Lasse Barkfors does sort of set up a let's-feel-sympathetic-for-these-people portrait with the way that the documentary is narrated and by the questions asked. Sure, it does offer some insight into the mentality of the people that were interviewed, and hats off to them for participating in such a documentary and baring their stories and experiences.

There definitely were some very deviant experiences and backstories here in the documentary, and I will say that I sort of feel like the documentary should do a follow-up on the people, to see what happened since the interview and where they are in their lives and living/relationship situations some time after this documentary was shot.

And I also think that the documentary is sort of biased, as it only showcases the stories from the sides of the registered offenders. It would have been nice to have had some interviews with the victims or those closely related to the victims, to have their sides of the events brought out in the light as well.

I was adequately entertained by the documentary. And when I say "entertained", I mean that I feel that the documentary provided me with enough insight and enlightenment into some of the topics here. But at the same time was rather vague in other aspects. But all in all, adequate enough for a viewing.

I am rating this 2014 documentary a five out of ten stars.

Sad stories to make an offender. Why would they pass that life onto another generation. I think it was open and honest. It was hard to watch at times. Their crimes are horrific. The crimes that normalised their behaviour are horrific. Their minds were altered at a time when their brains were learning how to cope with childhood issues. They were abused. I really find it hard to understand, Why carry on the abuse. Thinking about it though. Childhood memories make your world. I have two children and the thought of anyone sexually abusing them, makes me feel physically sick. I knowI could kill to protect them.

This documentary will be difficult to stomach if you subscribe to the school of thought that views child molesters as disgusting, unable to be rehabilitated, and/or undeserving of sympathy. However, if you are willing to suspend your judgment for a mere hour, this film will surely have you second-guessing your stance by the end of it.

Pervert Park is a glimpse into the stories of several convicted child molesters who live together in a small trailer park. Both men and women inhabit this space, and their crimes vary in severity. When a violent child rapist is lumped together with someone who merely responded to the wrong Craigslist ad, it really makes you question why we vilify all sexual offenders as one and the same.

Their stories are brutally honest. The film tries to answer how these people became who they are, and where they plan to go from here. Rather than play into the creepiness factor, Pervert Park proves that many of these offenders are rational adults who clearly know right from wrong, but nonetheless found themselves in the position that they are in. The counseling sessions shown are extremely thought-provoking and may leave you questioning our typical "label and ostracize" response, especially when the line between being an actual predator and simply making a mistake is so blurry.

As some of the other reviews will unintentionally tell you, if you don't already feel sympathetic to registered sex offenders who are shunned by society, this documentary will do little to change any of that.

Sure, flashing children on the street is not the same as molesting your own child for years on end. They don't merit the same reaction from society - that is true.

But this documentary does nothing but present a narrative with which we aren't already familiar. Sex offenders were so often victims of trauma themselves, violence breeds violence, when in Rome, etc., etc. But child abuse is wrong!, etc., etc.

To make matters worse, the offenders didn't seem to care about the victims, they only wanted to protect their own reputation - leading me to ask the wrong questions, the ones the documentary wanted me to avoid. Like, what kind of therapy they were receiving? How can they move along without true regret? What exactly have they learned? The place was only run by other sex offenders, should they even be giving each other therapy?

What I really wanted from this documentary, was a more objective look at what happens to the offender ones they have served their time in prison. I wanted the documentary to tell us how poor - on average - their chances of living a normal life afterwards would be. Maybe compare this to what happens murderers, or drug dealers, etc., to present this as the complex moral issue it truly is.

Sure, we can torment the offenders 'till the day they die, but what good will it do? Is it really that reasonable to prevent these people from becoming contributing members of society? Isn't it a waste of human life, or just plain ressources, to let them be outcasts forever and ever?

I think so. This problem won't be solved by looking away, no problem ever will, no matter how ugly it is. I wish people would talk about pedophilia more often. I wish there were ressources for people who had these wrong thoughts, I wish they were allowed to talk about them - so we could prevent them from taking actions, so we could give them the mental strength to do right.

But the documentary made a bad case for this, focused on the wrong ways to emit sympathy, and a murky way of presenting facts. It didn't provoke the kind of rational thought that would counter the terrifying feeling of knowing, that you are looking at a room full of people who have probably raped someone. Quite a shame, really. This documentary gets 6 stars, primarily because it is one of the only ones of it's kind.

I don't want to rate this as a '1' for the entertainment factor because it is a very entertaining doc. However, it truly appalls me how someone can wrap their head around the things that these offenders have done, and then have the audacity to justify them. No spoiler--but the woman in the movie--making excuses for what she did by the explanation of the way she was raised....after the acts she committed....please just EXCUSE ME if I'm not intelligent or liberal enough to cry for her. "Grossed out" is a gross understatement.

A lot of this documentary focused on past abuse of the sex offenders, which is generally the case. But please don't expect the public to sympathize with this sort of thing. There are some sacred things left in the world, and there are some taboos to be upheld...thank God. Just ask yourself "your daughter?" "your son?". There is anger towards pedophiles for a reason...they are basically child murderers because that child's life is forever changed and their innocence is no longer intact. No, I do not care how much therapy the rapist has had-- please forgive me.