wtf PTSD

Unbelievable is an American crime drama released on Netflix in September 2019. The program draws from "An Unbelievable Story of Rape" (2015), a Pulitzer Prize-winning article by T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong for ProPublica and The Marshall Project.  

​

Unbelievable follows Marie, a teenager who was charged with lying about having been raped, and the two detectives who followed a twisting path to eventually arrive at the truth. It is an unflinching account of injustice and rape culture. Rather than flocking to Marie’s aid, those in positions of authority, such as the initial male detectives assigned to the case and a number of Marie’s foster parents, question her version of events. Facing gaslighting and doubt, Marie retracts her statement but is charged with giving a false statement. She ends up losing her sheltered  accommodation (for older children who have recently come out of foster care), her job, her friends and her trust in everybody.

​

The original article went on to form the basis of a book, A False Report: A True Story of Rape in America published in 2018, and was explored in an episode of the This American Life podcast.  The details used in Netflix's dramatisation are rooted in truth, from the account of the culprit's physical appearance to the settlement handed to Marie as a result of the suffering she had endured.  This gave the series a shocking feeling of authenticity.  The writing and acting is very strong and graphic and, as a survivor of rape and assault, I found the series compelling but, in tears throughout, very difficult to watch. 

​

Unbelievable floored me from the first scene when Marie woke one night to find a man looming over her with a knife. He tied her up with her own shoelaces, gagged her, and raped her for hours before leaving her severely traumatised.  She managed to cut herself free and had her statement taken by the police; however, a former foster mother started to suspect that Marie's unusual behaviour in the days that followed was evidence that she had invented the whole story. This assumption underlies the ongoing misunderstanding of the coping strategies the brain uses to protect during periods of extreme stress and trauma.

 

As I watched the story unfold, I felt enraged that the two male detectives then treat her as guilty of filing a false report. With no-one believing her, Marie wants to give up on life and she attempts to take her own life by standing on the edge of a bridge and contemplates jumping into the river... fortunately she does not.
 

Two other detectives, both female, independently begin to notice similarities between a series of rapes that also share similarities to that of Marie. They eventually meet and partner up to catch the serial rapist. This gives Unbelievable a very powerful storyline as it explores the investigation of sexual assault from two different approaches: one by two male detectives and the other by two female detectives.  In stark contrast to how Marie was initially treated, the two female detectives showed the importance of listening carefully to victims of serious sexual assault, who can have memory lapses and fragmented memories of the attack as a result of the trauma memory and not because they are being dishonest.  Listen and Verify.....not Judge without checking!

 

However, Unbelievable primarily focuses on the successful investigation and the importance of giving victims space and recognition to heal. I was relieved that in Marie's case, they ensured the devastating mistake on her record was corrected.

 

Marie eventually accepts compensation in order to rebuild her life. After Marie challenges one of the male detectives, he eventually apologises to her - I believe because he did feel guilty. Personally, if it was me, I would have found it hard to forgive him. 

 

The attacker was caught and sentenced to over 200 years in prison; he will never be free, which is a huge relief to all of his victims.

​

See the Official Trailer here