Square One

In 1993 Evan Chandler brought child sexual abuse allegations against Michael Jackson on behalf of his thirteen-year-old son Jordan. No criminal charges followed, and Jackson settled the civil suit. Danny Wu's documentary goes back to that first case and, through interviews with witnesses, people from the later trial's witness list and members of Jackson's family, argues that he was innocent, explaining the settlement within that argument. That is the film's position. The wider record is larger than the film: Jackson was acquitted of all charges in a separate criminal trial in 2005, while over the years other people have made allegations, which his estate has rejected. This documentary stands on one side of that argument, and it is worth watching with that in view.