TORONTO SUN -April 7, 2000

FILM REVIEW

Look at abuse through The Jaundiced Eye

"Engrossing and Creepy!" --Liz Braun, Sun columnist

Stephen Matthews was 17 when his girlfriend got pregnant. He was the first person in his family - ever - headed for college, but with a child coming and all, higher education never happened. That was kind of a heartbreaker. Still, he loved his little son.

How Matthews and his own father, Melvin Matthews, eventually lost 10 years of their lives over accusations that they molested that child is the subject of The Jaundiced Eye, a compelling documentary about a miscarriage of justice.

Through the specifics of the Matthews case, The Jaundiced Eye looks at the usual end result of hatred, ignorance and prejudice, not to mention the mine field that surrounds kids in court and their various adult advisors and inquisitors.

Stephen Matthews, a small-town guy from Michigan, is gay - not something he had understood or accepted about himself until after he'd become a father.

He left Michigan to work in California. He visited his son once or twice a year.

While Matthews was away, his ex-wife Danette often left their son with Matthews parents. The child loved his grandparents and often begged to stay with them when it was time to go home with his mother.

Then, when Danette's new boyfriend gave the child a black eye, Melvin Matthews - that's the grandfather - told the boyfriend off in no uncertain terms.

Still, the child said it happened. Matthews and his father went to prison and stayed there four years. The charges were eventually dropped for lack of evidence.

Thereafter, abuse allegations began. The child was misbehaving. Danette got him to counseling. She began to hear stories of sexual abuse, including incidents involving a machete. There was never any physical evidence.

Using interviews with the main characters (Danette and her boyfriend are not on-camera), with child psychologists, lawyers, experts who deal with sexual abuse and with people who know Matthews and his family, The Jaundiced Eye reveals just how such a nightmare of injustice could ever have been possible. It didn't help, of course, that the late ‘8Os were awash with recovered memory and satanic ritual abuse cases. The film has a very sad ending; but be advised that since The Jaundiced Eye was made, Stephen Matthews and his son have been re-united.

The Jaundiced Eye is directed by Nonny De La Peña and produced by Academy Award nominee Dan Gifford (Waco: The Rules of Engagement). The title of the film comes from Alexander Pope: "All seems infected that the infected spy, As all looks yellow to the jaundiced eye."