Review: Untouchable (2019)

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. today filed felony sex crimes charges against HARVEY WEINSTEIN, 66, in New York County Criminal Court. The defendant is charged with Rape in the First and Third Degrees, as well as Criminal Sexual Act in the First Degree, for forcible sexual acts against two women in 2013 and 2004, respectively. [1] “Today’s charges reflect significant progress in this active, ongoing investigation,” said District Attorney Vance. “I thank the brave survivors who have come forward, and my Office’s prosecutors who have worked tirelessly on this investigation. I would also like to thank Commissioner James O’Neill and our dedicated partners at the NYPD. We urge additional survivors and others with relevant information to call our Sex Crimes Hotline at 212-335-9373.” As stated on the record in court by Assistant District Attorney and Special Counsel Joan Illuzzi, the Criminal Court complaint follows a monthslong investigation conducted by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office with assistance from the New York City Police Department. Assistant D.A. Illuzzi additionally stated that the D.A.’s Office is continuing to investigate allegations involving additional victims and other crimes. Assistant D.A. and Special Counsel Joan Illuzzi is handling the prosecution of this case with Assistant D.A.s Rachel Hochhauser, Kevin Wilson, and Jennifer Gaffney (Deputy Chief of the Sex Crimes Unit), under the supervision of Assistant D.A. Christopher Conroy (Chief of the Major Economic Crimes Bureau), Executive Assistant D.A. Michael Sachs (Chief of the Investigation Division), and Executive Assistant D.A. John Irwin (Chief of the Trial Division). District Attorney Vance thanked the New York City Police Department for its assistance with the investigation. Defendant Information: HARVEY WEINSTEIN, D.O.B. 3/19/1952 New York, NY Charged: Rape the First Degree, a class B felony, 1 count Rape in the Third Degree, a class E felony, 1 count Criminal Sexual Act in the First Degree, a class B felony, 1 count

Directed by: Ursula Macfarlane | 98 minutes | documentary | Featuring: Rosanna Arquette, Erika Rosenbaum, Paz de la Huerta, Hope Exiner D’Amore, Caitlin Dulany, Ronan Farrow, Louise Godbold, Nannette Klatt, John Schmidt

In January 2019, Ursula Macfarlane’s documentary ‘Untouchable’ was screened at the Sundance Film Festival with high expectations, although the reason is less beautiful. While the film production company Miramax – with Harvey Weinstein and his brother Bob at the helm – was previously responsible for winning entries, Harvey himself is now in a completely different light. In 2017, the first shocking stories surfaced about alleged intimidation, assault, threats and rapes against Weinstein. His employees and actresses decided to stop talking, which became the worldwide #MeToo movement thanks to journalist Ronan Farrow of the New York Times.

Harvey was at the top for nearly a quarter of a century. He has produced blockbusters such as ‘Shakespeare in Love’, ‘Pulp Fiction’ and ‘Good Will Hunting’. His fame and wealth reached far and many an actress was only too happy to work with Miramax and later the Weinstein Company. The fact that these collaborations turned out to have a high price came painfully to light in 2017.

Narcissistic abuse of power, intimidation, transgressive sexual and terrorizing behavior is the common denominator in all stories. The then 22-year-old Gwyneth Paltrow was summoned to give Harvey a misguided massage and Angelina Jolie and Uma Thurman also have no pleasant memories of their discussions with him. In some cases, she says, there were also rapes against actresses including Paz de la Huerta, Rose McGowan and Asia Argento.

Harvey is a man of stature, also in a literal sense. His slender victims, whom he wanted to ‘talk to’ in his hotel room, were no match for the sex-hungry businessman. They were trained to be cornered. Do you ever want to work in Hollywood as an actress again? Then you are willing to do this, right? ‘. In the documentary ‘Untouchable’ we hear, among other things, the story of the Canadian Erika Rosenbaum. She had been promised a great acting career in exchange for sex. And not once, but three times she was intimidated by Harvey. Erika did not agree with his misconduct and she only now deserves – very poignantly – her moment in the spotlight with the general public thanks to ‘Untouchable’. This is just one example from the numerous stories of duped actresses and colleagues of Weinstein. These allegations have taken a heavy toll; his wife Georgina has left him, he has been fired from the Weinstein Company, Harvey has been disbarred from several prestigious film guilds and he is an absolute persona non grata worldwide.

p style=”text-align: justify;”> The whole affair gets even darker when Harvey Weinstein feels wet and enlists renowned Black Cube detectives (ex-Mossad agents) to cover his tracks and spy on victims and malicious journalists. The detectives do a perfect job; no incriminating evidence can be found on the internet. But the saying goes here too: no matter how quick the lie, the truth will catch up with it.

p style=”text-align: justify;”> ’Untouchable’ unilaterally tells the stories of women and men who have fallen prey to a large arsenal of Harvey Weinstein’s misconduct. But what the documentary misses because of this is the adversarial process. No attention has been paid to an interview with, for example, Harvey’s lawyers or objective psychologists who can provide insight into the thinking of a man like Harvey. This could have been a welcome addition, given the global scale of the Me Too movement.

Harvey was arrested in 2018 on charges including multiple rape and sexual harassment charges. He has now been released on $ 1 million bail, wears an ankle bracelet, is not allowed to leave the states of New York and Connecticut, but above all insists on being innocent. Given that the lawsuit will not be served until September 2019 and Weinstein has not yet been sentenced to an appropriate sentence, it may be somewhat easy not to highlight the events from multiple perspectives.