Nodespite social petitions of thousands of fans, streaming from today on Netflix is available Michael Jackson: the verdicta three-part docuseries which reconstructs the trial for child molestation which saw the King of Pop in the dock in 2005. Along the lines of the recent one Michael Jackson – Anatomy of a Fall, the series looks back all phases of the criminal trialone of the most followed judicial and media events of the new millennium, ended with Jackson’s acquittal. A case that monopolized newspapers and television for months, dividing public opinion and leaving open a debate that continues today.
Michael Jackson: the verdict on Netflix, docuseries about the trial of the King of Pop in 2005
Directed by Nick Green, the documentary reconstructs the events that led to the 2005 trial against Jacksonaccused of molesting 13-year-old Gavin Arvizo. The investigation began two years after the TV documentary Living with Michael Jacksoncreated by the journalist Martin Bashir (the same as the controversial interview with Lady Diana), in which the pop star declared in front of the cameras that he had allowed Arvizo to sleep in his own bed.
Through a mix of archive images, testimonies and interviews with people involved in the case – including some members of the jury –, Michael Jackson: the verdict gives space to both supporters of Jackson’s innocence and his detractors. From historical friends like his biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli at the CNN reporter Diana Dimond, great accuser of the King of Pop since the very first accusations of pedophilia dating back to 1993.
All stages of the process and who Gavin Arvizo is
The trial against Michael Jackson opens in January 2005 in the county courthouse Santa Barbara County. But to understand how the King of Pop was dragged into the dock, it is necessary take a step back. In the famous interview given to Martin Bashir, Jacko is filmed in the company of Gavin Arvizo, the pop star’s 13-year-old friend who was living in Neverland with his family at the time.
Gavin recently defeated the lymphbut non-Hodgkinan illness that had forced him to undergo heavy treatments, including chemotherapy. During the therapeutic process, the family had come into contact with some charities that allowed young patients to meet famous people. It is in this context that the little boy knows Michael Jackson.
The artist invites Gavin and his family to spend time at the Neverland Ranchprecisely in the days in which Bashir shoots the documentary. After the broadcast the scandal erupts: the pop star candidly admits to having slept with Gavin and gets filmed while holds the 13 year old’s hand. Michael returns to the front pages of all the newspapers while Gavin and his family agree to record a video where they deny any possible insinuation of unauthorized relationships between the pop star and the teenager.
A few months later, however, Gavin and his family change their story and they report Michael Jackson. THEThe boy claims that the singer offered him alcohol despite being a minor, showed him pornographic material and sexually abused him on several occasions. In 2003 the authorities opened a formal investigation that led to the pop star’s indictment the following year.
Michael Jackson on trial in 2005. (Getty Images)
Michael Jackson: the verdictthe review
Although the docuseries is structured to give equal space to detractors and defendersfrom the first minutes of Michael Jackson: the verdict the feeling is clear: director Nick Green clearly points the finger at Jackson. A fact that stands out observing the numerous interviewees: the accusers are journalists, lawyers, reporters procedural while the defenders are historical friends and employees by Jackson. A choice that implicitly, he wants to underline that there are no experts on the subject to defend him but, precisely, “very loyal” to the King of Pop.
In addition to adding almost nothing to what was already known of the trial and accusations, the series opts for very specific assembly choices. To underline, always implicitly, the “guilty” position of its author. It is no coincidence that the first episode ends with the story of a former lawyer of Jacko who, firmly, says he received Frank Tyson’s confession. Ex-child friend of Michael who, over the years, became his personal assistant. According to the lawyer, Tyson confided to him that there had been relations with Jackson and who, out of friendship, had always covered him.
A docuseries therefore that will certainly anger old but above all new Michael fans which, after the release of the film of the same name, they brought the King of Pop to the top of the world box office but not only that. For weeks Billie Jean is at number 1 on the Spotify Global ChartJacko has become the most searched artist on Google and also in the charts of best-selling records Thriller is stable in first place for weeks. A triumph that no accusation, not even the most ferocious, has managed (at least for the moment) to stop.