![]() From the devil’s mouth emanates the warning uttered by Howard to his terrified nephew: “If you tell, I’ll kill you.” This prompted Sasha to have many a sleepless night, fearing that his uncle would crawl through his window a la Bob in “Twin Peaks” and murder him. He shows a doppelgänger of himself urinating blood into a pool of flames occupied by a Howard-esque devil, while a girl resembling his sister lies impaled with spikes. The drawings that Sasha creates to portray the abuse he suffered are visions of hell as arresting as any illustrated by Hieronymus Bosch. He has no qualms with accepting donations from his fellow worshippers, which will aid in paying his legal fees to an attorney who has unlimited sources of funds, enough for Howard to evade justice while the brother he abused rots behind bars. Whereas Henry believes that the molestation inflicted by Larry and Stewart was a misguided attempt at showing their love, eldest brother Howard was motivated by a need to dominate, which he routinely does with an operatic bravado loud enough to silence any cries of protest.Ī cantor revered at his high-profile synagogue in New York City and equipped with vocal chords that were “kissed by God,” according to the Pope himself, Howard is skilled at throwing his weight around. It’s only a third of way through “Rewind” that Neulinger and editor Avela Grenier provide a full picture of the abuse endured by these kids, which makes its sudden clarity all the more violating. She can clearly see through his erratic antics because she shares the pain that has spawned them. Or when Sasha grabs the camera, welcoming the viewer to his show entitled, “The Shit Diaries.” He proceeds to turn the lens on his sister Bekah, whose unamused expression speaks volumes. Or when Henry glances in the direction of Howard-hunched over with his eyes on Sasha-before turning away. Apart from its numerous profound achievements, Neulinger’s picture is an extraordinary work of film analysis, inviting the viewer to study certain encounters frame-by-frame as a way of revealing their unspoken subtext.Ĭonsider the moment when Larry’s son, Stewart, rubs the head of a visibly uncomfortable Sasha at the crowded family dinner table, while comedically shrugging at the camera. I found myself drawing upon the same instincts I utilize for processing nuanced visual storytelling as I regarded young Sasha’s piercing stare, radiating the pent-up agony he is not yet ready to articulate. The ability to read a great work of cinema is not all that different from psychoanalysis, since signs of trauma are often conveyed through nonverbal behavior rather than expositional monologues. He sifted through over 200 hours of home videos shot from his earliest days to the moment he moved out for college, examining the footage to illuminate the story buried within seemingly inconsequential interactions. The harrowing and courageous documentary, “Rewind,” marks the directorial debut of Henry’s first child, Sasha Joseph Neulinger, who took the name of his maternal great-grandfather as a way of severing any lingering connection to his abusers. Yet his inability to open up about it led him to turn a blind eye toward the inherently cyclical nature of sexual abuse, leaving his children to be preyed upon behind closed doors. He was all too aware of the horrifying dysfunction deeply embedded within his brothers, Howard and Larry, having been a victim of it himself. ![]() There may not appear to be anything unusual about capturing celebrations and family gatherings on videotape, yet Henry’s compulsion was fueled by a primal need to hold his siblings at arm’s length, framing them in a way that fit the Rockwellian image of American normalcy. He’d film as many home movies as possible, testing the patience of his wife, Jacqui, who realized that the lens had formed a wall between her and her husband. ![]() It's like you can pretend everything's not quite the way it is.”- Joshua Leonard in “ The Blair Witch Project”Īs soon as his son Sasha was born, Henry Nevison often found himself with a camera in hand. ![]() “I see why you like thi s video camera so much. ![]()
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