Name: Scouts Honor: The Secret Files of the Boy Scouts of America
Director: Brian Knappenberger
Released: 2023-09-06T12:30:00

Netflix’s latest documentary, Scouts Honor: The Secret Files of the Boy Scouts of America focuses on the decades-long coverup of child sexual abuse by Boy Scouts of America and the harrowing ways it impacted the survivors.

Story

Survivors, experts, and whistleblowers sit down to recount how the Boy Scouts of America, one of the most popular youth groups not only in the USA but in the whole world, actively covered up the sexual abuse of thousands upon thousands of young kids for decades.

The origins of Boy Scouts are traced back to the UK and then to the USA where it quickly gained popularity to become the most popular youth group. Meanwhile, the child molestation problem that the group has always been prone to has already begun ever since its inception in 1908.

Survivors come forward, some of whom make their stories public for the very first time in their lives. Many of these victims are in their 40s and muster up great courage to finally overcome the trauma and other mental ramifications of their abuse.

A former youth protection director at Boy Scouts of America comes forward and reveals a damning amount of details regarding the higher-ups alleged lack of concern and care for the sexual abuse files.

An unprecedented amount of victims come forward when the case is taken to the Supreme Court and the Boy Scouts of America declares bankruptcy.

The court rules that compensation of about $2.4 billion be made to the victims but to this day, a major chunk of them stand unaware of when and how much will they will be compensated.

Positives

Scouts Honor: The Secret Files of the Boy Scouts of America is an important documentary that sheds light on one of, if not the worst cases of child sex abuse in a major institution.

The survivors of child sex abuse who come forward for the documentary can make it a rather difficult watch but their bleeding hearts and exemplary bravery also make for one crucial viewing not just for those who have faced similar heinous experiences but for one and all.

The documentary also sheds light on, even if during a comparatively shorter sequence, the regressive and disingenuous issue of conflating pedophilia with homosexuality.

Negatives

The current socio-political climate in the USA is witnessing a very harmful narrative that seems to be working hard to make homosexuality and transgenderism synonymous with pedophilia, while in fact, as pointed out by the documentary as well, a large number of pedophiles are straight.

While Scouts Honor does address this issue and the fact that the BSA, for a long time, tried to chalk up its child molesting problem to homosexuality, this section deserved a longer runtime and dissection.

One other problem with the documentary is the problem that most documentaries contending with grave issues face, which is the intentional or unintentional insensitivity towards the subject matter that comes across thanks to a dramatic background score.

While Scouts Honor is relatively less guilty of this sin, and it’s mostly a straightforward documentary with little to no sensationalizing aspects, it should do away with the music that only stands to make matters needlessly kitschy.

Verdict

Scouts Honor: The Secret Files of the Boy Scouts of America is a difficult and important documentary that contends with an incredibly gross subject matter and highlights how institutional oversight and capitalist structures rob so many young kids’ childhoods.