This film deals with the subject matter of two married couples wrongfully accused of molesting children, serving lengthy prison sentences of almost twenty years. It is often quite intense and upsetting.
A young boy is given a physical exam to check for signs of sexual abuse. The boy is visibly disturbed by this and never gives the doctor or police permission to touch him.
Real-life convict Charles Manson (of the Manson Family Murders) is briefly mentioned.
The accused individuals are treated with no dignity or compassion; they have their homes busted into, sentimental belongings destroyed, they are strip-searched and dragged out of their homes in front of news reporters, and a woman and her two boys are made to undress in front of a perverted policeman, who watches as he smiles.
A boy's grandparents die, and he's home alone when this happens, as his older brother has joined the Marines. The two brothers later share a tearful reunion, with the older brother saying that he can't live with himself if the allegations he made against his parents aren't true.
A lawyer who mishandled numerous child sex abuse cases is told that he's probably going to lose his job. Written text at the end of the film reveals that his real-life counterpart worked as a cashier for minimum wage after losing his District Attorney job, but that he went back to work as a lawyer in juvenile court.
A grandparent is said to have gotten custody of her granddaughters after they falsely accused their own parents of child molestation. It is suggested that this grandparent s mentally unstable and coached the girls.
One scene of prison rape; two scenes of onscreen violence and/or threats in the prison.
The way that the court treats the two boys during the investigation is extremely cruel; they coach the boys into confession through hours of interviews and psychological badgering, pit them against their family, and for them to undergo physical exams without consent. A very upsetting and disturbing cassette tape reveals one of the boys crying for his mother.
Multiple reunion scenes that are quite upsetting, particularly one where the family gets a brief 15 minutes together to say goodbye, as they're told not to cry or else the visit will be cut short. The woman arranging the visit is bothered by the apparent signs that the boys have not in fact been abused.
A boy cruelly tells another boy that his parents didn't want him.