Happy Valley

source: Happy Valley

An excellent documentary about how a college and it's football sycophants had to eventually grow up. What happened to Sandusky and Paterno was exactly what should've happened. The only sad part is that Paterno died not really seeing his true fall from favor. Those that commit evil and those who do nothing to stop it are equally at fault. Football is mindless nonsense. Perhaps in the end the students of Penn State finally actually learned something. Bravo.

First of all, this documentary really stated nothing new for me beyond the Matt Sandusky angle. In reality, why should you watch it to begin with if nothing new is brought to the table? The real vision of the documentary is how cults can easily form and easily maintain a grip on a person. I've always learned it is never a good thing to deify someone, regardless of their truest intentions. While it might leave you empty of people to look up to, what do you think will happen when you find out this "hero" aided in something terrible? Clearly the people of State College have recoiled deeper into their cave, not willing to think for a second about their demigods. A normal person would state the obvious...Joe Paterno paid a heavy price for his actions. But to sit for 10 years and say nothing and then claim ignorance? A normal person would say would fully acknowledge maybe it wasn't good to put him on such a pedestal. Fortunately for the people of State College the filmmaker decided to leave everything on the screen, making no grand proclamation even though we could clearly see it. The only scene you really need to see is the protester at Joe Paterno's statue. People just did not want to believe the truth that and they were almost ready to throw down, mouths foaming, minds completely clouded. No person or concept should ever have this hold on you. And here is the scary thing the film eluded to....it will happen again in State College. And it will happen in other cities all over the world. If anything, what we can take out of this film is that if you are good at sports, people will forgive you or completely downplay your actions. And this mentality is dangerous.

Happy Valley (2014) **** (out of 4) This here is an excellent documentary that takes a look at the aftermath of the Jerry Sandusky scandal and how Penn State drew criticism for how they handled it. Another focus is on head football coach and legend Joe Paterno and his reputation. HAPPY VALLEY is a great documentary because it takes a look at the subject in an open and honest way. It doesn't have an agenda to prove one thing or another but instead it simply tells a story, shows both sides of the argument and it lets the viewer make up their own mind on it. As the documentary shows, many people believe that the media took the focus away from the villain Sandusky and put it on the school and Paterno. Others feel that the school and Paterno didn't do enough. That's basically the dilemma to this story and the documentary covers both sides extremely well. We get interviews with the Paterno family including Joe's widow and his sons but don't think that the documentary takes an easy viewpoint on him. It discusses what he knew, what he did about it and whether or not he should have done more considering who he is. The documentary also interviews Sandusky's adopted son who came forward that he had been abused as well. The documentary mainly focuses on the year after the news broke and this of course includes Paterno's death, the removal of his name and statue from the school as well as how Penn State tried to rebound. There's no question that the film does a very good job at covering all sides of the event including the reaction to the people of Happy Valley and their anger at the media. HAPPY VALLEY is certainly an excellent documentary that covers all the bases and is certainly worth watching.

I remember all the national headlines from a few years ago concerning Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky's arrest on child sex abuse charges, and of course whether or not legendary beloved head coach Joe Paterno did enough to stop it- and how much he knew or didn't know about the whole thing. This documentary observes the year after Sandusky's arrest in the surrounding community known as "Happy Valley". This is a community that for decades had been a place of pride on Paterno's winning streak, his commitment to the school/team, and his record number of players who actually graduated with degrees. The film contains dozens of interviews with those who knew both coaches, some who were actually molested by Sandusky (including his own adopted son), as well as folks in the community debating about Paterno's actions/inactions involving the abuse. It's just heart-wrenching at times. The scene involving Paterno's statue, as tourists attempt to get photos next to it while this guy holds a sign up (making some not-so-good remarks about the coach) I think is one of the most powerful scenes I've ever seen filmed for a documentary. There was also a lot of debate about whether the NCAA 's punishment of the school was fair. I have some issues with that myself- like should the students have been penalized for it? The school was forbidden from playing in games for FOUR years! WTF?? That's pretty much these athletes' entire college career-?? Well, anyway, this film is one of the best docs I've seen in some time. Definitely worth checking out sometime for sports and non-sports fans alike...

Jerry Sandusky's unspeakable acts sent shockwaves in the Penn State campus. Jerry Sandusky is no longer part of society, and that is a very good thing, because his disgusting acts preyed upon young children is as horrific as it gets. Amir Bar-Lev's documentary "Happy Valley" focuses on how the Sandusky crimes impacted the Penn State campus and its "happy valley" society. Sandusky was a former Penn State football assistant coach who opened up a camp for disadvantaged children. Penn State society thought the world of Jerry, which included his boss the infamous Joe Paterno. Then when Sandusky's child molestation charges came into the limelight- a whirlwind of controversy, divisiveness, and shame soon followed to the campus and its city. Paterno was in the middle of the controversy as he was a central figure blamed for not reporting when he was aware of Sandusky's acts. By no means "Happy Valley" is an easy watch, but an important watch no doubt on how one man's despicable acts could have profound impact on first the victims, but also on an entire society; Bar-Lev excels in bringing that to the forefront. "Happy Valley" will in no means make you happy, but it is recommended for its societal focus at how one man's crime impacts an entire community & university. **** Good

Disclaimer: I have always had an appreciation for the Penn State football program. My mother was a Penn State fan (not an alumnus though), and she would always say that Joe Paterno represented class, while almost in the same breath denounce the legendary coach of my favorite college team, Barry Switzer as being anything but. Even though I am a loyal Sooners fan (though not an alumnus of OU, simply having been born in Oklahoma), I could appreciate what JoePa and Penn State stood for. I couldn't help but think of that as I watched this documentary. In his lifetime Joe Paterno went from being a mere man into being a mythical one. It was one legend right after another, and I don't believe it matters who you are, if left unchecked, a person can buy into their own hype. I believe that happened with Joe Paterno, and it has left an impression on a program, a university, and a community struggling to make sense of it all. The whole truth may never fully be known. From watching this I got the sense that Joe Paterno genuinely wanted to do the right thing. Having however the myth of "St. Joe", I believe he hindered himself from doing more because he couldn't believe a monster had gotten so close to him, and he couldn't live with what that would do to his perception. His son seemed to confirm as much as he stated both his parents were very well read, but naive about many other things surrounding them. Joe was too wrapped up in his own myth. This documentary goes to great lengths to show how others have bought into the myth as well, and their support is as blind for him as it is deep. On the one hand they'll acknowledge what was done to the kids Jerry Sandusky was supposed to be helping was terrible. Just as quickly though they will try to absolve Paterno of any wrongdoing, saying he reported what he knew. In other words, the bare minimum. For a man that had built a reputation of going above and beyond the bare minimum, this seems to me, unacceptable. Yet they don't see it. However, the lasting impression I got from watching this, and honestly I believe this was the point of the documentary, was that there is no prototypical child abuser, and that it is possible to dupe many into thinking one thing about you when something else may be the reality. That's a sobering thought for anyone. The line that sums up this documentary for me though is quote "You should never build statues for guys who are still alive." True character is revealed when nobody else is looking. We may think we know someone, even if only by reputation. That reputation however may be little more than a house of cards ready to fall. In the end, regardless of what Joe Paterno knew or didn't know, what he reported or didn't report, the carefully crafted myth has come crashing down.

The crimes of Jerry Sandusky and the facts regarding the cover-up are well known. What this documentary, perhaps unwittingly, uncovers is how football enthusiasm at Penn State had long ago metastasized from from a sport to a full blown cult. The disturbing and unhealthy blind obedience to all that is "football" is on full display. The son of Joe Paterno, who covered for the pedophile, Joe Jr., says with no sense of irony whatsoever, "If I don't see it, it didn't happen. Some would call that denial, but it works for me". And then he laughs. He is not referring to Sandusky's crimes but rather to criticism of the cover-up. But it clearly speaks volumes to the mentality that created the safe haven for a serial child rapist and would do it all again given the same set of circumstances. A student fan compares Joe Paterno, again with no awareness of inappropriateness, to Jesus. Jesus would never have turned a blind eye to the suffering of a child. I thought that the conviction of Sandusky the reprimand of Penn State by the NCAA would confer a sense of justice and finality to what can only be described as complete moral failure by every individual at every stage of this more than 20 year crime spree and cover-up. After watching this documentary, however, I am disturbingly convinced that something about Penn State football is still rotten at the DNA level, and that ANYTHING could happen again and it would come as no surprise. The disturbing resolution is not the fault of this very good documentary. It is the fault of the morally bankrupt individuals who still run the town. UPDATE: 6/2/17, Ex-president Spanier, 68, sentenced to 4 to 12 months, with the first two to be spent in jail and the rest under house arrest, athletic director Curley, 63, received a sentence of 7 to 23 months, with three in jail, former vice president Gary Schultz, 67, sentenced to 6 to 23 months, with two months behind bars. None of them will spend more than a few months in actual jail. It was reported to these men by Joe Paterno that Mike McQueary saw Sandusky raping a boy in the showers in the Penn State locker room late at night. They did NOTHING!!! Another 10 years would go by before Sanudsky was finally stopped and brought to justice. Who knows how many more children were abused and raped because these good men allowed a monster to his undeserved freedom. Why has it taken 16 years to bring these enablers to justice?

A well done documentary about how people react when the people and things they believe in turn out to be an illusion. Being from the 'liberal west coast', I've never understood how football could possibly reach the level of reverence it enjoys elsewhere. But here it is in all its glory... supported by hoards who seem more concerned with sportsball than anything else in their lives -- including justice for abused kids. Well okay, maybe they care for the kids as long as the football games don't stop and no one attacks their coach. For without football, we are nothing. In all fairness, the documentary did include representatives from the non-reverent point of view. But it's witnessing the reactions of people who have so much invested in a sport that has achieved cult status, as well as the mechanics of group think, that make this an interesting doc. A good study in the sort of self-righteous mentality that starts wars. But who am I judge? I'm a west coast liberal. I'd rather do almost anything else than watch football.

"St. Joe": What Penn State, College Station, and the world called Joe Paterno before the Jerry Sandusky indictment. No one ever called my town, Columbus, "Happy Valley," but when Ohio State defeats Michigan, it's a happy valley indeed. That euphoria over a football program as successful as Penn State under head coach Joe Paterno with its spell cast so widely is the engine that drives a community to miss the signs of crime such as assistant coach Jerry Sandusky's abuse of young boys. Amir Bar-Lev's documentary, Happy Valley, covers the historical bases of Sandusky's conviction on multiple counts and Paterno's eventual firing (and death a few months later) for not doing more to bring justice for the abused boys. Even Sandusky's adopted son, Matt, who is the most talking head in the doc, waits until boys have testified against Sandusky to confess he lied—he was abused. That confession is at the heart of this slowly competent documentary, for it encapsulates the ambivalence of a community so mesmerized by football and its cast of characters that it takes a while to acknowledge some of the actors have feet of clay. Sandusky is easy—he was seen in the showers with boys—but Paterno, the beatified coach (the statue on campus is now gone, as if he were Hussein or Stalin), challenges their understanding of a morality that extends beyond just legally telling a superior about an incident, as Paterno did. Bar-Lev's is as even-handed as could be: the media is held up to harsh light with its aggressive, predatory pursuit of the sensational; the NCAA is never fair enough; and the University, from president on down, can't get it just right. And so it goes—this well done doc, despite the sometimes vacant talking heads, shows few participants not caught up in the hoopla. It sure makes me think Ohio State's Jim Tressel dust up was just a skirmish in an enduring battle for the hearts and souls of students and the communities where they live.