Film: Happy Valley
This film is about Matt Sandusky.
“”Jerry Sandusky’s adopted son has spoken about his life with the serial child molester and prominent Penn State football coach in a new documentary.
Matt Sandusky speaks about his ordeal and emotional decision to testify against his own father in Happy Valley, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Sunday.
The 34-year-old describes how he was plucked from a deprived upbringing and brought into the affluent Sandusky family, who were local celebrities.
He says: ‘His name was a golden ticket. It was good to be next to him, to feel powerful, to feel that people envied me instead of looking down on me.’
‘If people thought of [head coach] Joe Paterno as god, Jerry was like Jesus. They were to me the two most powerful people. They could do whatever they wanted, they could do no wrong. according to the LA Times.
He also says that he feels ‘betrayed’ by the entire Sandusky family after he took the decision to testify against his father.
But he maintains that he refused to be a ‘coward’ and risked everything to turn against those who had brought him up.
Matt says he took part in the documentary ‘to empower other survivors’ and that he hopes to one day become an advocate for such victims.
The 100-minute film, which premiered on Sunday at the annual Salt Lake City movie jamboree, explores whether it was an open secret that Sandusky – who was convicted of 45 of 48 sexual abuse charges – was molesting boys over the course of his career.
Matt revealed he had suffered seven years of molestation at the hands of his adoptive father – between the ages of eight and 15 – in 2012 after years of denying any abuse, including to a grand jury.
He said the decision to share his story on film was not an easy one.
‘For me and all survivors it is important to have control over the timing and setting of (the) disclosure,’ Matt Sandusky told The Centre Daily Times.
‘My role in the film was to share the perspective of a survivor, to give survivors a voice.’
‘There were many victims in this case who came forward for the trial — I have immense respect for their strength — and because of those guys, I had the courage to come forward to the authorities to tell what I had to tell — the truth.’
‘I hope that people will begin to understand what I have gone through.’
Matt Sandusky declined to elaborate on his comments in the film, but he said he discusses his childhood, the abuse and his relationship with family. He is one of six children adopted by Jerry and Dottie Sandusky. He petitioned last year to legally change his name, and that of his wife and four children.
Matt’s story first became when a secret tape of a 29-minute interview he did with police during the middle of his father’s trial was leaked to NBC.
In the tape Matt said his father would enter his bedroom at night and ‘blow raspberries’ on his stomach, then move his hand down his body, rubbing up against his genitals.
Matt Sandusky said he would sometimes cower ‘in a fetal position’ in his bed trying to avoid his father.
‘It just was, just became very uncomfortable. You know, just with everything that was going on,’ he said on the tape.
‘What was, what was going on?’ a police detective asked.
‘With like the showering, with the hugging, with the rubbing, with the just talking to me. The way he spoke. And just, the whole interaction with him alone. Anything, anytime we were alone just those interactions …’ Matt replied.
Unlike many of the victims who testified at Sandusky’s trial, Matt Sandusky said he could not remember if his father ever engaged in any oral or penetrative sex acts with him.
‘You said at the beginning of our interview last night that things happened to you, but there was no, that you can recall, there was no penetration or oral sex. Is that correct?’ the police detective asked.
‘Yes. As of this time, I don’t recall that.’
Sandusky had been listed as a defense witness at his father’s 2012 trial, but he instead disclosed through lawyers that he had also been abused and didn’t take the stand.
He said that finally telling his story was about ‘righting wrongs’, with his confession bringing much more integrity to the testimonies of the child victims.
It is also allowed the supporters and family members who had backed Sandusky throughout the case a different perspective.
Jerry Sandusky, convicted on 45 counts involving 10 boys, maintains his innocence and is appealing his conviction.
He is serving a 30- to 60-year prison term.
An online synopsis of Happy Valley, made by The Tillman Story director Amir Bar-Lev, describes the film as a ‘complicated and tragic tale’.
Matt Sandusky watched the film in a recent private screening.
The film’s producer, Ken Dornstein, said in a Los Angeles Times review published Friday that Matt Sandusky was the last person interviewed for the documentary.
‘We knew his story could stand in for a lot of the victims’ stories, and we waited for Matt,’ the producer said.
We held the film for him.’
The Salt Lake Tribune said it ‘leaves the stomach in knots for the entirety of the 100-minute film’.
The Times’ film critic called the film ‘thorough’ and ‘thoughtful’.
Matt Sandusky said he now hopes to start a nonprofit in the State College area to advocate for child sex-abuse victims.
‘It is something I am determined to do,’ he said.
‘My ultimate hope is to empower other survivors.'”
Jerry Sandusky’s adopted son tells how he was ‘betrayed’ by family after testifying against his father who was ‘like Jesus’, as he opens up about seven years of abuse [Daily Mail 1/21/14 By AP reporter]
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