In the United States there is a fine line between taking children from their parents because it’s essential and taking children from their parents because we think it’s what is best for them. Failure to Protect examines the sometimes fractured nature of Child Protective Services in California, and it follows three sets of parents as they try to reunite themselves with the children that were taken from them.
Failure to Protect is direct, unwilling to beat around the bush or to pull any punches. Director Jeremy Pion-Berlin and his team (including the individuals showcased throughout the film) tell it like it is, and their opinions and beliefs are incredibly strong. They want the world to know how they feel, and they don’t care who they piss off or offend in the process. I commend Pion-Berlin and this team for approaching Failure to Protect in this fashion–but I commend them even more for not being divisive.
Within the documentary, a slew of individuals tell us about the failures of the systems in our country, about men and women being accused of sexually and physically assaulting their children, and more. Failure to Protect should be divisive, and viewers should hate many of the individuals showcased throughout the course of the film. However, Pion-Berlin frames his subjects in a way that allows them to be held up to the standard “innocent until proven guilty.” Viewers are sort of tasked with playing along throughout the duration of the film, using only the information that we are provided to determine who is innocent and who is guilty. Failure to Protect never forces viewers’ hands, it never leads them in a particular direction–all it does is provide us with facts and the testimonies of those involved, and we have to take it from there. As we play along, we become more invested in the film–and the story and the film as a whole become more interesting as a result.
There are a lot of people involved in the development of Failure to Protect, people from all walks of life. I think it’s important that the film includes a variety of individuals, that Pion-Berlin finds ways to incorporate multiple points of view in his film, and he does just that. From start to finish, Failure to Protect makes it a point to have everyone be able to appreciate this film. Whether you’ve been in the shoes of the struggling parents, or you’ve never been anywhere near a situation like this, this film can (and likely will) appeal to you.
It feels like Failure to Protect would be a difficult film to make. There are certainly a series of hoops that have to be jumped through just in order to gain access to all that went down throughout this process–and there are even times when access was denied. With all of that, I know that Pion-Berlin found that there were things that he was unable to accomplish throughout production. However, with everything that he would have had to endure, he remained steadfast on his journey. Failure to Protect captures the truth, remains inclusive and accessible throughout, and ultimately does all that it sets out to do.
Directed by Jeremy Pion-Berlin.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/10
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