The Family I Had

This 2017 documentary, directed by Katie Green and Carlye Rubin, follows how a mother went on with her life after the murder her son committed. Charity Lee's thirteen-year-old son killed his four-year-old sister. The documentary observes the years afterwards. The question at its centre is that the mother still loves her son and cannot explain that to anyone. Charity continues to visit him in prison, a choice nobody around her understands, and the documentary does not try to justify it. A question about whether violence is inherited also circulates. Charity's own family history contains similar events, and the film puts that on the table without offering it as an explanation. The sections about her newborn child are the most tense. Who it's for: those able to watch true crime documentary and accounts of family psychology. Who it's not for: viewers who do not want to approach the killing of a child; the film addresses it directly and in detail.