Content Warning: sexual abuse of minors
Stevie is a difficult watch, but for important reasons. Directed by Steve James, the film is a documentary about the horrifically dysfunctional upbringing and impending criminal sentence of Stevie Fielding, who is charged with sexual molestation of his cousin. The film dare asks where our compassion should go - not only with the victim, who gets a few minutes of coverage, but does it belong with Stevie too?
The film takes a stand and for that alone, it is admirable. It says we should have compassion for Stevie, who doesn't seem to want it because, to him, it's a sign of weakness, vulnerability, or an admission of guilt. The jury is in: Stevie did molest his cousin and he's going away to prison. In an unique scene I haven't really seen before (and hope to never again), the filmmaker makes a deal with a man who is the leader of an Aryan gang to look out for Stevie in prison. If no one looked out for him, I suppose, he'd be dead, the story goes.
Stevie hasn't had a lot of people looking out for him, which is the problem. That's why director Steve James became involved, first as a Advocate Big Brother when Stevie was 11 years old, and ten years later, when guilt (maybe from ghosting Stevie or focusing more on studies) possessed him to come back. I was somewhat frustrated with Steve J's interventions captured on camera since documentarians are mostly removed from their subject. However, I had to recognize within myself that this film is an intervention of a kind, and we are learning about Stevie because maybe that's the only thing that anyone can do that amounts to any sort of assistance.
Stevie was neglected by his mother (no father) since birth, and if he did interact with his mother, it was mostly so that she could beat him. He was placed in foster care, but then 'abandoned' by his first foster parents when the foster dad wanted to focus on being a pastor. This led to Stevie being sexually assaulted and going to all the foster homes in his region. The argument is made that Stevie's emotional maturity likens him to the age of the person he molested.
The film makes us look long and hard at the inequities within the criminal justice system, for both accused and victim alike, and encourages us to ask how we can do better in protecting those who are vulnerable. I would have appreciated more of a focus on Stevie's story and less about the director and his wife (who is a counsellor for sexual offenders) - as the movie is called Stevie not Steve.
3 Out of 5
