Saint Woody Allen

Published in El País
(Spain) on 18 March 2018
by Rosa Montero (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Maria Vaquero. Edited by Margaret Dalzell.
There are those who call the accusations of sexual abuse against the filmmaker a witch hunt, but the case is far from clear; It contains disturbing data.

I have been witnessing with growing awe the beatification of Woody Allen for weeks. I've seen him, before my eyes, levitate toward heaven, hoisted by several columnists and commentators. With some exceptions, in most of these arguments, there are two curious circumstances. On the one hand, there is a strong, scandalized complaint from those who call this a witch hunt and who say that the #MeToo movement is so dogmatic that it is torturing poor Allen without any evidence. On the other hand, there is a biased ignorance surrounding the circumstances of this case. This worries me because I see admired, even loved, colleagues simplify this subject down to a level in a way they usually do not for other matters.

To begin with, it is surprising that they are all so convinced about Allen's innocence because the subject is a cursed and poisoned swamp. Though certainly I am not sure of anything. Some claim that Allen was found not guilty, which is a mistake. There was no verdict because there was no trial. The medical examination of the girl in question, Dylan Farrow, who was 7 years old, was negative. (Of course, fondling, which is what Allen was accused of, does not leave any trace.) Furthermore, a report from the Yale-New Haven Hospital commissioned by the state's attorney, Frank Maco, concluded that the videotape, in which the girl talks about the abuse, was edited and manipulated, and either Dylan Farrow made everything up, or she was coached by her mother. I must remind you that the proceedings took place in the midst of a row between Allen and Mia Farrow as a result of his relationship with her adopted daughter. In short, Judge Elliot Wilk did not find conclusive evidence of abuse and closed the case.

Up to that point, everything seems very simple. But let us start where it gets messy. It turns out that the Yale-New Haven report is signed by two social workers and a pediatrician, who was the head of the team but who never saw Dylan Farrow. All the notes of the investigation were destroyed prior to the issuance of the report, which is unusual. The social workers refused to testify before the judge, and the only testimony in the case came from the pediatrician. For all these reasons, the investigation was not considered reliable by either the prosecutor who had ordered it or by the judge who said the report was "sanitized and, therefore, less credible.” As for prosecutor Maco, he declared that he had not pursued the case because of the fragility of the child victim, although there was probable cause to bring charges against Allen. (The filmmaker filed a disciplinary complaint against the judge for these statements and lost.. In addition, and although there was never a trial for the alleged fondling, there was indeed a trial to determine custody of Allen's children. Wilk, the same judge who closed the Farrow abuse case, said things like, “There is no credible evidence to support Mr. Allen´s contention that Ms. Farrow coached Dylan...” and “We will probably never know what occurred on Aug. 4, 1992...[but] Mr. Allen´s behavior toward Dylan was grossly inappropriate and that measures must be taken to protect her.” (The full text of the judgment can be found on the internet.) Farrow won custody, and the judge denied Woody visits to her daughter. Allen filed two appeals against the judgment, which he also lost, and had to pay Farrow $1 million in legal expenses.

There is still a lot of garbage to tell, but it does not belong in this article. There are additional accusations against both Allen and Farrow, as well as cross attempts to discredit supporters of both sides in the case. It's the usual misery between two crazy people who hate each other. In any case, I do not write this to demonstrate that Allen is guilty (when in doubt, I lean more toward his guilt, but this is irrelevant) but to prove that the case is far from clear, and that those who accuse him are not dogmatic and delirious witch hunters, but that they are basing accusations on disturbing data. Although, the worse thing is to realize in light of this scandal the ease with which social inertia makes us automatically support the character in power and not pay enough attention to the complaints made by children regarding abuse or incest.


Hay quienes tachan de caza de brujas las acusaciones contra el director por abusos sexuales, pero el caso dista de estar claro: encierra datos inquietantes.

Llevo semanas asistiendo con asombro creciente a la beatificación de Woody Allen. Lo veo levitar ante mis ojos rumbo al cielo aupado por diversos columnistas y comentaristas. Salvo alguna excepción, en la mayoría de estos alegatos se dan dos curiosas circunstancias: por un lado, una enérgica, escandalizada denuncia de la caza de brujas del movimiento MeToo, que según ellos llega a ser tan dogmático que está torturando al pobre Allen sin ninguna prueba; y por el otro, una sesgada ignorancia sobre las circunstancias de este caso. Lo cual me preocupa, porque veo a colegas admirados e incluso queridos llegar en este tema a un nivel de simplificación que no suelen manifestar en otros asuntos.

De entrada, sorprende que todos estén tan convencidos de la inocencia de Woody Allen, porque el tema es un maldito y envenenado pantano: yo, desde luego, no estoy segura de nada. Algunos afirman que Allen fue declarado no culpable, lo cual es un error: no hubo ninguna declaración porque no hubo juicio. El examen médico de la niña Dylan, que tenía siete años, resultó negativo (claro que unos tocamientos, esa fue la acusación, no dejan huella); además, un informe del hospital Yale-New Haven, encargado por el fiscal del Estado Frank Maco, concluye que el vídeo en el que la niña habla de los abusos está editado y manipulado, y que o bien Dylan se inventaba todo, o bien se lo había sugerido la madre. Debo recordar que el proceso tuvo lugar en medio de la trifulca de la separación de Allen y Farrow a consecuencia de la relación de él con una hija adoptiva de Mia. Total, que el juez Elliot Wilk no encontró pruebas concluyentes y cerró el caso.

Hasta aquí todo parece muy sencillo. Pero empecemos con el lío. Resulta que el informe Yale-New Haven está firmado por dos asistentes sociales y por un pediatra que era el jefe del equipo, pero que jamás vio a Dylan. Todas las notas de la investigación fueron destruidas antes de presentar el informe, algo muy anómalo; los asistentes sociales se negaron a declarar ante el juez y el único testimonio fue el del pediatra. Por todas estas razones, el estudio no fue considerado fiable ni por el fiscal que lo había encargado ni por el juez, que dijo: “Es un informe sanitized [desinfectado, retocado] y por lo tanto menos creíble”. En cuanto al fiscal Maco, declaró que no había continuado con el caso por la fragilidad de la niña víctima, aunque había causa probable para presentar cargos contra Allen (el cineasta le puso una denuncia disciplinar por estas palabras y perdió). Además, y aunque no hubo nunca un juicio por los supuestos tocamientos, sí lo hubo por la custodia de los hijos de Allen; y Elliot Wilk, el mismo juez que archivó los abusos, dijo en esa sentencia cosas como: “No hay evidencia creíble que soporte la alegación del señor Allen de que la señora Farrow manipuló a Dylan” o “Probablemente nunca sabremos lo que sucedió aquel 4 de agosto de 1999 (…) [pero] la conducta del señor Allen hacia Dylan fue gravemente inapropiada y… deben tomarse medidas para proteger a la niña” (el texto íntegro de la sentencia está en Internet). Farrow obtuvo la custodia y el juez denegó las visitas de Woody a Dylan. Allen presentó dos apelaciones contra la sentencia, que también perdió, y tuvo que pagarle a Mia un millón de dólares por los gastos legales.

Aún queda muchísima basura por contar, pero no me cabe en este artículo. Más indicios que acusan tanto a Woody como a Mia, intentos cruzados de desacreditar a los partidarios de ambas facciones… La miseria habitual entre dos personas chifladas que se odian. En fin, yo no escribo este texto para demostrar que Allen es culpable (en la duda, yo me inclino más hacia su culpabilidad, pero esto es irrelevante), sino para probar que el caso dista mucho de estar claro y que quienes le acusan no son unos dogmáticos y delirantes cazadores de brujas, sino que se basan en inquietantes datos. Aunque lo peor es intuir, a la luz de este escándalo, la facilidad con la que la inercia social nos hace apoyar automáticamente al personaje de poder y no prestar la suficiente atención a las denuncias de los niños por abuso o incesto.
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