Witch Hunt

Witch Hunt is a very moving documentary about a group of people who were accused and convicted of child molestation charges in the 1980s. There was a rash of prosecutorial zealousness in the Northern California County, and one after another people were accused of child molestation. (This was, of course, during a national moral panic about the issue, but the filmmakers didn't contextualize it in that way.)

The convictions were all based on the testimony of children who had been inappropriately questioned and prepped by state social workers and the prosecution. Years later these kids began to recant their testimony and acknowledged that they had lied and had been pressured to produce their stories.

The film focused on a handful of these wrongfully convicted people, who spent from 8-20 years in prison. All of their convictions were overturned.

It was terribly moving to see these people emerge from prison after so much time.

I think the filmmakers could have brought up more sociological issues, exploring the nature of the frenzy in a larger context and asking why we are so irrationally afraid of "child molesters". Also, there was dead space, and it could have been a good 15 or 20 minutes shorter. Still, it is an excellent documentary.