Bravo! This mini-series hit right at the heart of the insidiousness of sexual assault and rape; what it means to be assaulted and what it means to be (dis)believed, and what it means to seek justice. It's incredibly sad and unfortunate that this is such a worldwide epidemic, where victims of sexual assault are regularly dismissed, shamed, or even blamed for being a victim. This mini-series got into the details behind all of this by telling a compelling story of what it was like to be in these various positions.
The casting for this series was especially strong, and the performances were marvelous. Toni Collette and Merritt Wever were tremendous as the investigative detectives, and their chemistry together was fantastic. Kaitlyn Dever, as a teenage rape victim, was believable and sympathetic. Her portrayal of someone who'd been assaulted was detailed and nuanced, and she did justice to the many survivors of sexual assault. Danielle Macdonald was also terrific as another rape victim.
I have to say that as well done as Watchmen was, it wasn't as strong or nearly as important as this mini-series. I felt that this should have won both the Emmy and the Golden Globe for Best Limited Run Series, Best Writing, and Best Casting. This was truly a remarkable achievement; not something that comes along every day.
Such an emotional story with a beautiful message that we all need to hear
Joe Bell is such an emotional story that I highly recommend everyone watching this as it really spreads across a key message. We first see that Jadin Bell was getting bullied for being gay as all he wants to do is get on in the world and the world to respect him for who he is. We see the impact that the bullying is taking on the whole family as shown in a particular scene where Joseph is concerned over what the kids are saying to Jadin, nevertheless Jadin is trying to stay strong by saying words cannot hurt me I am tougher than I look. Obviously we know that this is really getting to Jadin as all Jadin needed is support and people to speak up against these bullies before it was too late. Joseph and Jadin in this scene share a very deep emotional hug showing that the pain that they are both feeling about how Jadin is being bullied for his sexuality and being himself. You really feel it for the emotion that this is having especially by the facial expressions in both Joseph and Jadins faces. Throughout this film we see Joe walks across America in a self-reflecting journey in order to spread the word about the terrifying costs of bullying. Showing people that if we don’t speak up against bullying you can really be left in a catastrophic situation as the Bells were. Joe realises that he should have not cared so much about what other people thought, which we can see peoples negative comments about Jadin being his true self, therefore he wishes he would have just spoke up sooner instead of trying to avoid the situations as the comments and physical harassment was getting worse for Jadin. We see many flashbacks to what Jadin had to deal with, also seeing Jadin spirit leading Joe across this journey as Joe says to Lola on the phone. Overall I really found that Joe doing this in tribute for Jadin really touched so many lives and he really did dedicate everything to this as things are never the same again for Joe and his family. Please watch this film as it brings an emotional beautiful powerful message as there is plenty of good people in the world to speak up against bulling we should not tolerate it, therefore be more supportive to everyone especially our friends in the LGBTQ+ community as this is a daily struggle there really is not enough good people in the world. If you consider yourself to be a genuine good person please speak up and stand up against bullies as we should all stand together.
