DVD Review: Southwest Of Salem: The Story Of The San Antonio Four

Southwest Of Salem: The Story Of The San Antonio Four is a compelling documentary about four young gay women who were accused of a horrible crime they did not commit, and about their long battle to prove their innocence in the face of prejudice and fear. The film features interviews with the four women, family members, and legal experts, to tell the story, along with video footage the women shot before going to prison.

When the film introduces us to Anna, Cassie, Liz and Kristie, they are in prison, and had been for many years at that point. Through them, we learn something of their childhoods, and of their neighborhood in San Antonio, Texas. As you might guess, it wasn’t always easy for them being gay in such a conservative area. But at least one of them had some support. Maria Vasquez, Anna’s mother, is interviewed and clearly has nothing but love for her daughter. Remarkably, she recounts talking to her priest about Anna’s sexuality: “He said she’s going to be receiving a lot of negatives in the world, you know. She’s going to come against this prejudice. There should be one place where she can go where there is only love.” Cassie’s mother, however, was not accepting of their relationship. And Liz’s mother had basically disowned her. I appreciate that the documentary provides some background information, and lets us get to know these women a bit before getting into the specifics of the crime they were accused of committing.

The crime the four women were accused of, and went to prison for, was sexually assaulting Liz’s two young nieces. Throughout the process of their arrest and trial, their sexual orientation was used against them. The documentary does an excellent job of showing how this accusation changed their lives, and also puts their trial into context with regards to the satanic cult scare that was happening in the 1980s and early 1990s, when people believed that child care workers sexually abused children in order to later initiate them into a cult. Completely insane, of course. But the accusations against these four women came at the tail end of that strange time. What I like is that the film delves into the women’s personal lives before then widening the scope to include information on the satanic cult scare.

The documentary follows the story as the Innocence Project Of Texas takes on the women’s case and works to free them. One of the men working on the case says, “If people only knew how little truth and justice had to do with the way the legal system works, they probably would mass at court houses with lighted torches.”  It’s terrifying, because it is made clear how easily your life could be destroyed by a criminal accusation like that, something that seems to be in the news quite often these days. And when children are involved, of course people’s hearts immediately side with the alleged victims, making the process of getting at the truth even more difficult. What is also interesting to me is how the science has changed in the years since the trial, and how what was believed to be true then has now been proved false.

But it is the four women themselves who are the heart of this story and this film. It would be difficult to remain emotionally detached while listening to them tell their stories. The film has many touching moments, which are allowed to play out without interruption or comment.

Southwest Of Salem: The Story Of The San Antonio Four was directed by Deborah S. Esquenazi, and was released on DVD on  June 12, 2018 through MVD Visual. The DVD contains no special features.