In 1983, headlines from Manhattan Beach, California, about the alleged sexual abuse of young children by employees at a preschool, provoked such hysteria that accusations were hurled at preschools around the country by frightened parents. Say Uncle, directed by Peter Paige, is about a similar though fictional crusade launched by a concerned parent, Maggie Butler (played by Kathy Najimy), who jumps to a conclusion about child molestation on the part of Paul Johnson (played by the director), a budding artist who is bored as a telemarketer, engages in the seemingly innocent practice of befriending small children at playgrounds in a small town, thus to Maggie “fitting the profile” of a child molester. Paul has naïvely sought playground friends to replace the good times that he has long enjoyed with his young godson, who moves away when the father is transferred to work in Japan. But Paul is gay and therefore vulnerable to Butler’s witchhunt. The premise that Paul would dismiss the possibility that his behavior could be misinterpreted is, of course, preposterous; his exoneration from the persecution is equally improbable. In the Manhattan Beach tragedy, brought to the screen in The Indictment (1995), Paul Johnson is the name of the child whose mother falsely claims was abused. When the trial finally ended in 1990, the longest in American history, the defendants were not convicted, but they lost almost everything that they had in order to pay for the expenses of the trial. The sexagenarian employees, however, remained psychologically broken. MH
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