Genre: Documentary
Number of episodes: 6
Description: Filmmaker Brian Knappenberger investigates the tragic death of an 8-year-old California boy who endured horrific abuse by his mother and her boyfriend, along with the fractured and complex system that failed to protect him.
Review: In 2013, 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez dies in a Los Angeles hospital, caused by trauma. He has been tortured by his mother and her boyfriend. Fernandez is no stranger to the system: an entire series of professionals and non-professionals, from social workers to co-workers, have been in contact with the family and called it in. But still the abuse continues. And when Fernadez dies, the news hits the people hard. Because why didn’t anyone do anything about it? And why was Gabriel still living there? But most important, who is responsible for it?
Filmmaker Brian Knappenberg wants to answer these questions in six episodes. He follows the prosecutors trying to prosecute Gabriel’s mother Pearl and her boyfriend Isauro Aguirre. We also see former employees of the Californian bureau of child care, as are journalist of the Los Angeles Times. We see how several people tried to help Gabriel, like his teacher and a security guard, but when they reported it, nothing happened. And some people even lied about it and falsified documents to cover that up. Abusing a child, torturing a defenseless young boy, that’s unforgivable. But knowing about it and looking away is just as terrible.
“The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez” has a big impact and is heartbreaking. It is beyond me how so many people abandoned Gabriel and didn’t do anything to save him from the abusive environment he was living in.
It’s a beautiful documentary series, which will definitely grab you and make you think.
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