Gripping Film Shines Spotlight on Child Abuse
By Annelies Gartner
‘Don’t tell, no one will believe you anyway,” 12-year-old Lyndal was told of her sexual abuse at a prestigious Anglican school in Toowoomba in 1990. Almost 10 years after she was abused Lyndal was a tormented young woman suffering flashbacks and self-medicating in an attempt to block out memories of the molestation she endured at the hands of her boarding master Kevin Guy. Lyndal returned to her home town and with lawyers Stephen Roche and Jodie Collins and barrister Bob Myers took on the powerful church that denied her abuse for over a decade. Guy was never brought to justice for his crimes. He committed suicide 40 minutes before he was due to face criminal charges in court, leaving the Church and its legal team believing the case against them ended with his death. “She was abused at the school, the guy who abused her abused several others and ending up committing suicide before they could bring him to justice,” actor Jack Thompson, left, who plays Bob Myers, says. “Lyndal had to live with this and for 10 years. She was told that she was lying, that it hadn’t happened and her psychologist ... said ‘we need to get justice for you, we need to bring this to the attention of the court’.” Roche wrote about Lyndal’s courageous fight for justice in the book Don’t Tell, which has been adapted for the big screen. “The script is a beautifully written piece,” Thompson says. “You have actual transcript from the court, you’re dealing with real stuff and I think it is an incredibly important story to be told.” Thompson says the cast is “a bit of the creme de la creme for this apparently simple tale”. “Lyndal in the movie is played by Sara West and beautifully portrayed as a young girl by a young actress in her first ever film, Kiara Freeman,” he says.
Also starring in the film are Aden Young as Roche, Thompson as Myers, Rachel Griffiths as psychologist Joy Connolly, Jacqueline McKenzie as barrister Jean Dalton, Gyton Grantley as paedophile Guy and Susie Porter and Martin Sacks portray Lyndal’s parents Sue and Tony. It is the first feature film for director Toni Garrett and is produced by Scott Corfield. Roche and Terry Jackman are executive producers — it also includes a song written for the film by Missy Higgins called Torchlight. Civil proceedings started in 2001, when Lyndal sued the Anglican Church for $450,000. Her case became well known because she insisted she didn’t want compensation, wouldn’t keep her mouth shut, and instead of the case being heard in front of a single judge it was heard in front of a jury. “She won compensation of $800,000 and through the press and media brought to the attention of the world at large that this was not an isolated case and that really was the beginning of the royal commission,” Thompson says. The fallout of the court case brought about the resignation of the governor- general at the time, Dr Peter Hollingworth. “He (Hollingworth) had been the head of the diocese, Church of England diocese in Queensland, and he knew about the case and he had simply swept it under the carpet,” he says. “Just on 10 years after the case itself was heard (then prime minister) Julia Gillard instituted the royal commission inquiry into child sex abuse.” It was a landmark court case in Australian history but Thompson is quick to point out “this isn’t a local problem, this is a worldwide problem in various institutions”. “I think that in the end what you’re looking at is a film we hope will not only create awareness but it will inspire change,” he says. Thompson believes the topicality of the film and the fact that at its essence it is a good courtroom drama has widened audience appeal. “The film was chosen as the Australian entry at the Newport Beach Film Festival ... and incidentally at that film festival it had the audience award for the most popular film there out of 300 odd movies,” he says. “That’s just an American audience there, just talking about seeing a movie. It’s not about Australia to them.” Showing the film in the US was also a special moment for Lyndal who travelled to California for the screening. “She came with us and when she was asked to stand up at the end of the Q&A. When she stood up, bless her heart with tears in her eyes, there was a standing ovation for her courage and for her winning the case. It was very, very moving. It was fantastic,” he says. West said her key goal was making sure Lyndal was “happy and satisfied” with her portrayal. “She was on set a couple of times and we had a bit of a chat,” West says. “It seemed that she liked how it was going and we sat together and watched the final cut of it while we were up in Queensland for the first opening screening — I think she was very happy which is great.” The 76-year-old stalwart of Australian film and television hopes Don’t Tell will help other survivors. “The movie itself it’s an attempt to join and to change the conversation about sexual abuse,” Thompson says. “By sharing Lyndal’s truly brave story we’re encouraging survivors themselves to come forward with their experience and to lift the stigma that has existed around the topic for so long.”
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