By: Thapelo Ramorobi
As a human being, there’s no heart-wrenching feeling or experience like being betrayed by someone you fully trust and look up to, but what do you do when your trust is broken and you don’t know who to turn to?
School Ties is a South African Showmax docuseries that delves into unspoken issues. The series looks into male sexual grooming in SA’s most prestigious schools and how the actions of the predators affected the victims and their families in the long run.
This emotional documentary covers some of the ways schoolteachers groomed male students in their care. When creating this documentary, it’s clear that Jacques de Villiers, Richard Finn Gregory, Janina Oberholzer, Elle Oosthuizen and Wim Steyn wanted to not only document the horrific events but to also drive a message and pass a responsibility to each one of us.
The five writers were successful in sparking public awareness about sexual abuse and what to look out for if you suspect someone is going through abuse; not only that, but they called for accountability in schools and keeping children safe.
Richard Finn Gregory’s choice of shots as the director was strategic in that each shot passed a message of its own, and the approach he used not only cautioned the audience but also made them part of the narrative.
Watching the series, I couldn’t help breaking into tears and thinking to myself, “This could happen to anyone, even me.” I not only watched it, but for the brief four episodes I was part of it.
School Ties is not easy to watch – nor should it be. It demands we listen, confront and act. The series reminds us that silence is nothing but fuel to the cycle of abuse.
