Great Photo, Lovely Life

Photojournalist Amanda Mustard and filmmaker Rachel Beth Anderson have made a brutal documentary about Amanda's grandfather Bill Flickinger, a self-admitted serial pedophile who abused the female members of his own family and patients and their family members within and related to his chiropractic practice for many years. It took until the early '90s for Flickinger to be held legally accountable for any of his crimes, but even then he served a relatively abbreviated prison sentence (and got released early for his "good behavior"!) The links that Amanda makes to the Christian religiosity of generations of her family (until she relinquished that blind faith) are interesting, with many interview subjects emphasizing that God will forgive even the most prolonged and heinous sins imaginable and then welcome His true believers with open arms into Heaven (playing the "Get Outta Hell Free" card). Flickinger's claims that most underaged girls he victimized "enjoyed" being in his company and his inappropriate touching as much as he did-made me physically ill. Here's what I've never been able to fathom about pedophilia: how can it be sexually stimulating or fulfilling to cause someone to be abused who is sexually undeveloped and/or inexperienced and utterly incapable of understanding what's happening to them (more accurately, being perpetrated upon them)? It seems, not just terrifyingly insensitive, but literally illogical and totally nonsensical. So it's got nothing to do with sex, and everything to do with abuse of power and adult authority. In other words, it's the unmitigated torture of children, and the worst crime I could imagine. Although I don't disagree with some reviewers saying this film is self-indulgent, it's interesting how many believe that the family/victims had the right to hide their trauma from each other and the rest of the world, help the abuser cover up serious crimes and ultimately help him avoid both legal and personal accountability for years. In other words, people's so-called "rights to their privacy" trumps society's rights to know of the threats to their own lives and safety. Rate 8/10.

I am a survivor of abuse, and the family dynamic that was captured in this documentary was all too familiar to me. I also have heard stories from fellow survivors that are almost verbatim. It is wild to me just how similarly these events transpire but often they are covered up or explained away. I personally never got the same closure when confronting my abusers as the subjects did in this film. I'm encouraged and impressed that these people were able to be so transparent and vulnerable and willing to confront the truths of what happened to them, and maintain their relationships. It's my great hope that films like this are a cultural tipping point towards accountability and true justice.

What was the purpose? He didnt went to jail again, noone got closure, no laws were changed, he wasnt even confronted the right way, the family didnt heal and he even did his thing one last time in his final days! We can excuse everything with creating "awareness" but its just too trivial in my opinion. I feel she used his whole family suffering to create this documentary. There we're too many shots where she was the "movie star". I know it wasnt an easy documentary to create because of the emocional connection, but i think that affected the whole project. Im just happy it ended. The topic behind this piece is really serious and has to be talked about (or screamed) but in some points it was just the excuse to show drama. From a technical stand point i really likes the cinematography and the edition, it makes you feel a lot of things and that is what art is supposed to do. I cant rate this.

I felt that the doc portrays exactly how thousands of dysfynctional families get through lifetimes of abuse. Trying to keep secrets that just end up destroying them from the inside and sadly repeating generations. Secrets are an abusers best weapon. I noticed religion placing forgiveness as more important than holding perps accountable seemed to really stunt healing for some here. Many people use that way of dealing with hardship. To place it all in God's hands to deal with..but I say that gives the secrets more power and perps the privilege to continue on their merry way without confrontation. This film highlights how people can mix together(and confuse) the true love and trust children have for a parent (grandparents) with the ill-willed abusers demands for "love", respect. Sexual abuse, secrets and then abuser gaslighting were the main dysfunctional features for this family. I felt we peeked over their wall of secrets and gained some useful insight. I applaud her for shining light into a very dark corner. Was she therapeutic? She tried- but not really. She was realistic and raw. I'm actually shocked she was so brave and vocal- considering the women of her family being so sheepish and controlled. Was there a perfect "accountability bow" on the whole package in the end?... no. She did try, but such is life...messy without the big happy ending sometimes. And it's OK to not be OK. There WAS progress for healing in some and discussion for our awareness and for that- An Absolute Triumph. *Unhide secrets. Talk!! Hold abusers accountable. *

I wish it had different circumstances for the monstrous pedophile. Why didn't they seek more people to file against him. He was a serial predator in children, even in his old age. He didn't STOP being an abuser and molester being old. Too many victims that were left behind without closure to see him behind bars. It's so sad to see the victims continue to be in pain from all the suffering from their trauma. A true Closure for victims is to see the person who abused them behind bars. I say that as a victim myself. I wish the mother owned up to her delusion in thinking that it wouldn't happen to her children under the roof of the monsters house. Her mother allowed it to happen to her, she allowed it to happen to her grandchildren. That's the unfortunate reality in life, once an abuser, always an abuser. They continue to sexually abuse and assault children. I broke my silence, I lost members in my family and also gained supporters in believing me. But I also found another victim (my cousin) in my family. As I said, they have multiple victims. Sometimes, we need to speak the truth. Even if your abuse happened in the past or is currently happening. Victims at a young age don't know or understand what is happening. You don't know until you get older. I kept the silence because I was afraid of not being believed or heard. I became courageous and brave enough to break the silence. Yes, I had therapy and counseling. Group therapy works wonders. BREAK THE SILENCE TO STOP THE CYCLE of ABUSE!

This is an example of people who take on others perceived issues and feel the need to wrap themselves in said issues to be a savior for these people, whether they want or need one. Her grandfather should be in jail. But his victims need to find peace for themselves. It is not his granddaughter's burden or responsibility to be involved. This is her own twisted way of dealing with the crime perpetuated on her. When she stated while she may never get justice for herself, maybe she could get justice for others against her grandfather, I knew this was a trainwreck. I literally gagged in shock when she wrote potential victims letters asking for information about crimes that her grandfather may have perpetuated on them, with NO CONCERN for those victims and where they were in their own journeys. This is a vanity project for a very self important self absorbed troubled young woman. It's nauseating to watch her exhilaration at hearing the victims after the first thing the victim asked, "How did you find me?" You hear the pain in the victim's voice as she hears about the volume of victims. This creator is just rubbing salt in wounds and her ego is not going to soothe it. And her mother knew for years and never went to the police. She just tried to get her mom to run away. I obviously could not watch the entire film.

This is without a doubt one of the strongest and most self-aware documentaries I have ever seen. Beautiful visuals and nuanced delivery. It feels like I'm experiencing someone's memories firsthand. The film rings so true to family dysfunction - and the complex ways that the human mind processes that dysfunction in order to protect ourselves. It tracks many years in the life of the family, so we see through the camerawoman's eyes how family dynamics play out both short-term and long-term. It's honest and heartfelt. So many documentaries go overboard with exposition and oversimplify trauma. This one doesn't. Highly recommend.

Nope. Can't watch anymore than the 30 minutes I have endured with this complex family who was allowed to endure (thanks to the mothers and a horrible court system at the time) such atrocities by a man who explains that they wanted "it". And that he was instructing them. As a child, I was protected by a Scottish Tiger of a mother from anyone who thought of causing harm or distress. Sadly, most women have all met these lowlifes in all phases of our lives. Work, play, and in the home of friends who have forgiven their abusers and then turned them loose on their friends. Men also have their versions of this living, breathing tolerated nightmare. My inability to watch it to the end is because of the rawness of this project and how personal it is. That said, it obviously re-awoke things in me that created much less than a lovely life.

As "Great Photo, Lively Life" (2023 release; 112 min.) opens, we are with Amanda and her mom Debbie, who are visiting Amanda's grandpa (Debbie's dad) in Florida, ready to finally confront him over the sexual abuses of many young girls all this years ago. He doesn't deny any of it, and in fact goes one further. We then go back in time to the 1970s in Bradford, PA, where he worked as a chiropractor. At this point we are 10 minutes into the movie. Couple of comments: this movie is co-directed by Rachel Beth Anderson ("Unschooled") and Amanda Mustard, making her directing debut. The movie is a hard-hitting, if not shocking, but certainly devastating look back to the speechless acts of sexual abuse over many years by her grandfather, and the long-term consequences for the family and the victims. The grandfather shows no signs of remorse, zero, and explains it all like you would explain buying a loaf of bread at the grocery store, To Amanda's immense credit, she does not shy away from the difficult moments, and plows on to get to the bottom of this, including the responsibilities of the people around her grandfather, including i=his wife and yes, Amanda's mother. Please note that this will make many viewers uncomfortable, as surely I was. "Great Photo, Lovely Life" premiered at SXSW earlier this year to immediate critical acclaim. It started airing on HBO 2 weeks ago and it is also streaming on Max, where I caught it. If you want to understand the truly devastating effects of a serial pedophile on his victims, his family, and society as a while, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

This film is an okay film. It's about personal experience, so I'm sure to those who've had similar experiences will connect with this film more than I did. The thing that frustrates me about this film is that all of these people are saying that they want to move past the trauma they suffered, yet they are totally unwilling to forgive their attackers. They clearly do not understand what forgiveness means. Forgiving somebody (for whatever they may have done) is for the benefit of the person who was wronged, not the person who did wrong. Forgiveness means letting go and moving on, not forgetting what happened. In fact, we should not forget what happened, as that would put us at risk of these things happening all over again. I hope that all of these women will forgive this man, not to excuse or forget what he did, but so that they can move forward in their lives. Otherwise, they may will themselves along through life, but they will do so as victims and they will become increasingly more bitter.