Reviews

To talk about the abuse someone suffers in those 'schools' is very difficult. When other reviewers doubt it is abuse, it just shows that they have never experienced it and they are fortunate. Of course Paris gets to produce this film because the material is so incredibly sensitive. You are woken up in the middle of the night, kidnapped and brought to a boot camp prison in effect. Because they tell you that you deserve it and your parents, your protectors, agreed to it (or some version they tell the parents), it makes you incredibly vulnerable. They probably treated her worse because of who she was. And she suffered sexual abuse there which makes it all that much worse. Because of the shame, it's hard to talk about to a professional let alone the entire world. But Paris used her celebrity to speak up, advocate in Congress, and help get laws passed. It is so huge for the others who have no voice but also suffered in these places.

And the story was told with a nice balance of the sensational and the practical. Paris is a celebrity persona, that's her job, and she's very successful at it but this story humanized her for those of us who only know the persona. Honestly, it reveals a lot about the business of celebrity and the filmmaker did it with a sympathetic eye. It's so easy to bash these women but this film was more objective about that part which was fascinating.

Because I knew the story, I wasn't expecting a comedy. So, the comedic actors are actually pretty remarkable in this show that tries to present a tragic story in what starts out as a somewhat funny presentation. I think that is pretty brilliant and I'm all in. These are timely and important themes about family, mental health, and therapeutic relationships. While it is about one unscrupulous practitioner and one gullible customer, it does make one start to question the entire business of therapy.