We first meet the Dutcher family. Del and Dona Dutcher
speak about their sons, Mike and Brandon, who were abused by their
pediatrician, Dr. Bill Dougherty. Dona says that they thought of Bill as one of
the family. “If we had a birthday party,
we’d just automatically count Bill as one of the people on the party list,”
she tells us. Christy, Mike and Brandon’s sister, talks about how Dr. Bill
spent more time with her brothers than with her.
It is then that the filmmaker actually introduces us to
Mike and Brandon. It’s interesting that we meet the other family members first,
allowing them to set the scene and tone, and in the process making us worry
more about the brothers. I couldn’t help but wonder if they were still alive,
or if the abuse had led to suicide, or what. This is interesting, because just
by ordering the interviews in that way, it gets the audience thinking about the
long-term effects of child abuse, and how that childhood trauma might lead to
serious troubles in their adult lives.
About Brandon, Dona says, “He said it’s not Dougherty’s fault. He didn’t do anything. He said,
‘It’s just me, I’m a terrible person.’” Brandon then tells us, “Ironically enough, I wasn’t really angry at
him. I was angry at myself and the world and other people.”
We see childhood photographs of Brandon, and in them he
looks incredibly sad. Dona talks about how she went back to look at all the
photos once she knew about the abuse, and how the knowledge changed everything
she felt about those photos. By the way, we also see a photo of Bill Dougherty
with the boys.
This film is a very important and personal project for
director Patrick V. Brown, for he too was abused by Bill Dougherty. During one
of the interviews, he asks his subject if he knew about Patrick’s own abuse.
That’s how we’re introduced to that information – an interesting way of doing
it. Patrick then becomes one of those interviewed as well as the interviewer,
telling the tale of his own abuse at his pediatrician’s hands.
We also meet Brown’s parents. His father, Tom Brown,
talks about the respectability of Dr. Bill. He says that when the family moved
to Bartlesville, everyone had told them they should take their kids to Dr.
Bill. Bill is described by almost everyone as articulate, educated, friendly.
We meet several other people who were victims of Dr.
Bill, including two who appear anonymously, in shadow. John Stinson says his
abuse ended around the conclusion of seventh grade. Interestingly he says, “I think I outgrew him. I would have him go
get us liquor.” One of the men who appear in shadow says he never told his
mother about the abuse, even when she asked him straight out after a newspaper
article had appeared. He says, “I could
not have her thinking that that’s why I was gay.”
Most of those interviewed were child abuse victims, or
family members of the victims. But there is also an interview with Dr. Richard
Gartner, a psychoanalyst and author. He talks about how sexual orientation “is fairly well defined at an earlier age
than most boys are in fact sexually abused.” He says that a man may “blame his sexual orientation on this
experience of abuse. And that makes it almost impossible for him to have a good
feeling about his own sexual identity. Because to feel okay about being gay
means that in some way he’s letting his abuser wins.” This is one of the
many fascinating aspects of this issue.
And there is an interview with Alan Carlson, who talks
about the statute of limitations regarding child abuse. One has to bring a
lawsuit within two years of the date of the alleged act. He then adds that
there is a second possibility, that is to bring the lawsuit “two years from the date that the person
discovered or reasonably should have discovered the injury or condition which
was caused by the act.” One must also present proof that the victim
psychologically repressed the memory of what happened, and there needs to be
corroborating evidence. Obviously, that’s difficult to do.
One of the stated purposes of this documentary is to
change the legislation regarding the statute of limitations. Be sure to watch
the deleted scenes on the DVD for more information on that area.
Bonus Material
The DVD includes two deleted scenes, each being an
interview. The first with is with Robert Owen, MD. His father was a
pediatrician in Bartlesville at the same time as Dr. Bill. He talks about
gossip in the town, and about how memories can by faulty, and that’s the reason
for the statute of limitations. This is a perspective that’s not presented in
the main body of the film, and is one worth thinking about. The second deleted
scene is an interview with Congressman Earl Sears. Director Patrick V. Brown
asks him directly about legislation regarding the statute of limitations, and
Sears refuses to answer that on camera. The two deleted scenes total
approximately eleven minutes.
The bonus material also includes a brief interview with
Patrick V. Brown, in which someone off camera asks him why he’s making the
movie. It is there he talks about the statute of limitations.
There is also a bonus feature titled “Epilogue,” which
documents the film’s premiere and other screenings. It’s not all that
interesting until we see one screening with a panel. There, one of the people
who appeared in shadow in the film is in the audience, and he makes the
decision right then to stop being anonymous. It’s a very moving moment caught
on tape. This bonus feature is approximately ten minutes.
In A Town This Size
was released on DVD on October 22, 2013 through First Run Features.
