David Osit‘s new documentary PREDATORS is one hell of a tough watch and not for the reasons you would think. With unprecedented access to raw footage from To Catch a Predator, law enforcement records, and YouTube celebrities, Osit and crew examine the salacious yet undeniably watchable true crime shows that lure potential child predators into custody. The film examines the universal fascination with these shows, why most of us can’t seem to look away, and why the producers of these shows do what they do. But PREDATORS goes deeper to ask if the means of public humiliation and entrapment justifies the end. This isn’t a doc that is pro or con, but one that asks the deeper questions.
At the top of the film we see the usual clips. Men, being lured into a home with an actor that they believe to be a minor. The cameras and Chris Hansen swoop in at just the right time to stop the crime and to interview the pervert. We sit and giggle, laugh even, as these hapless idiots stammer and make excuses for the incriminating situation they are in. That’s when the back pedaling and remorse begin. But as viewers we are here for that one singular moment when the monster realizes their life, as they knew it, is ruined and that they will pay the price for their actions. Why we watch is the easy question to ask. Aside from the schadenfreude we are watching potential monsters being pulled from the streets. No question, this is a good thing. Osit then shares the stuff that never airs. We get to see the footage from the police station and we watch as this predator is questioned by a compassionate, trained counselor. That’s when something unnerving happens. We begin to see these monsters as the humans.
The film is broken up into three chapters. The first explores the sensation of To Catch a Predator following its rise and ultimately its controversial fall. We meet the actors who were hired as decoys to improv an interact with the perpetrators with an aim to get them in front of the camera. For the most part they have all moved on. But it was the episode that resulted in the suicide death of Texas District attorney Bill Conradt that highlighted the sticky triad between volunteers, news media, and law enforcement. Another chapter looks into the copycat shows and vigilantes who use social media to publicly shame potential predators.
Finally Osit speaks with Hansen himself in the final sequence of the film. We catch up with Hansen as he rightfully brags about his Emmy’s and the amount of children that he has potentially saved. We learn about his current gig doing practically the same thing. It is only when he and his producing partner air yet another controversial episode that the process is again questioned. Left in the wake is an 18 year old high school junior that crossed state lines to potentially be with a 15 year old. The case has since been dismissed by a judge but the reputational damage remains. Hansen and team pull the episode but the damage is done.
Still, Osit‘s real question circles back to what Hansen says in each episode, eventually asking the criminal something like “What were you thinking?” Hansen admits that he never got a clear answer. Yet this is exactly what Osit wants to know. What causes these men to attempt something so wrong, so utterly wrong? Beyond that, is there ever a way to rehabilitate these men?
Like I mentioned before, PREDATORS is a visceral sock to the gut that eventually forces the viewer to look at themselves and the society around them for answers that are impossible to find.
PREDATORS – 8/10
