Unlike the manufactured pyrotechnical precociousness of fiction-Stephen King`s novels come quickly to mind-evil in a child is not so much
inconceivable as it is hauntingly irresistible.
Listen to a real conversation:
”Who else would you like to stick pins into?” asks a therapist.
”Mommy and Daddy,” says Beth.
”What would you like to happen to them?” asks the therapist.
”Die,” says Beth.
She means it, saying the words as matter-of-factly as if she were saying
”Bye-bye”-a 6-year-old girl so scarred that she is without conscience.
But she has the face and demeanor of an angel, and thus will chill you in your chair as you watch the latest edition of ”HBO`s America Undercover,” a gripping show called ”Child of Rage: A Story of Abuse” (9 p.m. Monday, on the cable network).
The facts and figures of child abuse are painful: Almost 2.5 million children were subjected to abuse or neglect in 1989, resulting in 1,200 deaths. We are accustomed to seeing child abuse in the form of bruises, broken bones and made-for-TV movies about satantic day-care centers.
In this program, physical signs of abuse do not exist. Beth is a beautiful child, but she carries a twisted mind and a heart of stone.
Adopted at 19 months, along with her 7-month-old brother, Beth soon began to display signs of the evil she had suffered: inappropriate sexual behavior that included masturbation in public; cruelty to animals; and physical abuse of her brother.
The nature and the unthinkable extent of that evil become known during therapy sessions to which HBO cameras were privy. As 6-year-old Beth recalls the sexual and emotional abuse she suffered at the hands of her father when she was not yet 1 year old, one`s heart nearly cracks.
The contrast between the innocence in Beth`s bright blue eyes and the dark deeds she has suffered proves very disturbing. This is part of what led the executive director of the National Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse to call this program ”the single most powerful film . . . on the topic of child abuse.”
It is powerful, graphic and uneasy viewing.
I wonder, though, if Beth was not exploited by the presence of cameras. I would have appreciated more information on the precise nature of her therapy and the treatment at the special home that brought Beth toward the road to mental health, and I would like to have known what actions might have been taken against Beth`s beastly father.
These are not minor quibbles, but they become inconsequential when one sees Beth gingerly moving down the road to recovery-crying through memories of unimaginable horrors.
`CHILD OF RAGE`
”Child of Rage: A Story of Abuse.” An ”HBO America Undercover”
presentation. Produced by Gaby Monet. Airing at 9 p.m. Monday on HBO; also Thursday, July 11, 15, 17 and 23.
`PRESTON STURGES`
9 P.M. MONDAY, PBS The honorable ”American Masters” series begins its fifth season with the story of one of the movies` most distinctive talents.
Preston Sturges, arguably the most gifted satirist to spend time making movies, gets fair treatment in this one-hour documentary, subtitled ”The Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer.”
All of the young hotshots now receiving millions for movie scripts might pay homage to Sturges, for it was he, fresh from success on Broadway, who cut a then-unheard-of deal for his first film script-$17,500 with a percentage of the profits-in the early `30s.
Soon he was the highest paid scribe in Hollywood. Increasingly dissatisfied with his directors` handling of his words, he used his clout to become the first screenwriter to direct his own script. It was called ”The Great McGinty” and, in 1939, it started a remarkable roll that would change the face of American movies. There followed such classics as ”The Lady Eve,” ”Sullivan`s Travels,” ”The Palm Beach Story” and ”Miracle at Morgan`s Creek,” all helping to give birth to the term ”screwball comedy.”
Sturges himself was something of a screwball genius. As a child, he was carted back and forth between Europe and America (with much time spent in Chicago) by his eccentric, artsy mother. It wasn`t until he was 30 that he turned to writing, bringing his cosmopolitan background to his work.
In Hollywood, he would often hop around the movie lot on a pogo stick and would buy drinks for his cast and crew after each day`s shooting.
Many old friends and colleagues-Betty Hutton, Cesar Romero, Eddie Bracken-speak of Sturges in this show, but few shed light on the complexities of his character.
A case is made that Sturges` career floundered because he refused to compromise and frequently clashed with studio bosses. There had to be more to it than that.
In most creative people, destructive demons lurk below the surface, kept in check by the fires of creativity. After four consecutive failures, Sturges` fires were sufficiently banked to allow the demons to play.
He spent increasing amounts of time as elbow-bending host at his L.A. eatery, brought Harold Lloyd back to the screen in an ill-fated film pact with Howard Hughes and otherwise watched his lavish lifestyle bring him troubles with the tax man.
His last years were spent in various writing tasks that confirmed that his talent was spent.
That this program fails to provide anything but the most superficial explanations for his fall diminishes what is otherwise a first-rate biography. We are told that he was ”Hollywood`s bad boy” but not why. We are led to believe that he became the victim of his own success, but not given enough reasons to see that theory fly.
The clips of Sturges` films are unusually lengthy, but they allow us to taste fully the literate forcefulness of his screenwriting and the depth and determination of his unique vision.
`AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS`
7 P.M. MONDAYS, A&E For all the travel and adventure programs that pepper the PBS and cable networks, none that I`ve seen has been as invigorating, engaging and determinedly entertaining as this one, which follows Monty Python`s Michael Palin as he tries to follow in the fictional footsteps of Phileas Fogg and circumvent the world in 80 days without the aid of airplanes.
I watched every installment of this seven-part journey when it premiered earlier this year and can recommend that you do the same when it begins to rerun-retrain, resail, retaxi-on Arts & Entertainment cable network.
Palin, as affable and witty a companion as one would want, opens himself up to the sort of intriguing adventures any traveler would crave. And the lighthearted way in which he accepts and explores the particulars,
peculiarities and peoples of various climes and cultures-as at a snake restaurant in Asia-is almost inspiring.
