Unbelievable
of faith and grace in trauma
I doubt you will find a more difficult and anguishing one hour of viewing than the first episode of 'Unbelievable' or - a more rewarding series than this.
Rape is violation on so many counts. It is a desecration of a temple, a vandalism where what's broken stays broken. It is one incident which tears away every sense of trust and security a person might harbour.
But this series is more about a second violation, one which a protector imparts - and the greater tragedy which ensues.
Marie (Kaitlyn Denver) is a 18 year old. One early morning she wakes up to a masked intruder, who then ties her up and rapes her, for hours. Then he photographs her and makes her have a bath to wipe out every trace of DNA. He leaves a squeaky clean room.
Enter the detectives.
Their questioning is straightforward, practical - and devoid of any trace of empathy. Their repeated and insistent questioning makes Marie stumble on facts. And the detectives go after her. Till, in a traumatic breakdown, she says the while incident was made up - just to escape the suspicion and bombardment of the upholders of justice, and to get them off her back.
In another county a similar case occurs and a lady detective is assigned. Detective Karen Duvall (Merritt Wever) is a study in contrast. Her gentleness of questioning, the comfort and space she gives, intrinsically understands the vulnerable state of the victim. Her probing is a conversation with an arm around for protection.
Obviously this is deliberately done to show the contrast between the earlier remorseless interview.
Karen joins up with another detective, Grace Rasmussen (Toni Collette), who is investigating a similar rape case in another county. And as they start seeing patterns, they realise they have a serial rapist on the prowl, and they move their investigation forward.
As the series becomes a police procedural, it never loses its intensity. The two detectives with their contrasting styles and life beliefs give the story it's charge. Grace is cynical and tired, Karen is slow, gentle and gathering.
This incredible series is based on a true Pulitzer winning story. Beyond being a solid thriller, it a tale of choices people who are in trauma make, and how violation takes different forms - and how without even touching, we can scar people beyond comprehension.
Time and again, Duvall, who is a church going believer, quotes from the Bible. As she gives a ride to one victim, the latter sees a note stuck on the dashboard which says "Here I am. Send me." When asked about it, Duvall says it is Isaiah’s response when “God shows up, looking for someone to be of service, clean things up a bit, and asks, ‘Whom shall I send?’"
In one scene, the two detectives are talking and Grace says, “I don’t know how you can believe in God when all of this is happening.”
And Karen replies, “I don’t know how you get through all of this without God.”
It is a benediction in our world that for every person who walks around without remorse, there are two who understand that grace under pressure is both revealing and healing. Trauma swings body and mind and heart into unpredictable directions, and to mould responses to our own bureaucratic bent of right and wrong is to lump tragedy over tragedy.
Unknown to Marie, there were these two detectives, who were overcoming their own challenges of life and work, and doggedly pursuing her rapist.
The fact that the final two words in the series are "Thank you" is symptomatic of the lesson that in tragedy and trauma, grace is the only way.
Catch this utterly moving series. On Netflix.
Read the original story on which this film is based, here.
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