DENVER INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Preview

"The Jaundiced Eye," directed by Nonny de la Peņa, USA 1999. (9:00pm. Sunday)

Perhaps the only thing worse than being convicted for sexual child abuse is being conviceted when you are innocent. Just ask the subjects of Nonny de la Peņa's "The Jaundiced Eye," a gay man and his straight father who spent four years in a state penitentiary for allegedly molesting the man's son.

Set against the backdrop of a small Michigan town, "The Jaundiced Eye" not only documents the personal and legal ordeal of these two men, but also uses their odyssey through the justice system to deconstruct public and legal perceptions about the investigation of child abuse and reveal the dehumanizing environment of today's prisons. It's a harrowing journey, but an important one for anyone who still cares about the fairness and effectiveness of the disheartening morass that our government's judicial branch has become.

The documentary was produced by the same company that made "Waco: the rules of Engagement" (about the FBI's 1993 assault of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas), and the two films share a tenacious skepticism of how power and authority are used in this country. And though the de la Peņa isn't nearly as incisive a director as William Gazecki (who made "Waco"), "The Jaundiced Eye" still does a credible job of showing how, as a victim's rights advocate in the film suggests, the mentality of the legal system has shifted from using certain checks and balances to prevent the conviction of an innocent person to ignoring the rights of the accused in order to make sure the guilty are punished.