Common Sense Media Review
By Melissa Camacho
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Docu about sexual violence, victim blaming, retribution.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 16+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Hell on Earth: The Verónica Case
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
La mano en el fuego, a.k.a. HELL ON EARTH: THE VERÓNICA CASE, is a Spanish documentary series about a young teenager who is sexually assaulted and her mother's desperate pursuit of justice. In 1998, 13 year-old Verónica Rodríguez García and her mother Mari Carmen García were living in the town of Benejúzar, Spain when Verónica accused their neighbor Antonio "Pincelito" Cosme of sexually assaulting her while she was running a routine errand for her mother. However, Cosme was well-known and well-liked in Benejúzar, and despite the evidence against him, his supporters relentlessly subjected Verónica to intense backlash and victim blaming that lasted after his conviction in 2000. The teenager and her mother found ways to move on with their lives, but when Cosme suddenly appeared in town in June 2005 while on prison leave and taunted Mari Carmen, she reacted by setting him on fire. With the help of archive footage and interviews with the now-adult Verónica, Mari Carmen, lawyers, and Benejúzar community members, the details leading up to the murder, the legal battles the ensued, and conversations it inspired, are discussed.
Is It Any Good?
This Spanish docuseries offers a detailed and visually dramatic chronicle of what happened to Verónica Rodríguez García in October 1998. Hell on Earth depicts the additional trauma she and her mother endured as a result of reporting it resulted in a ghastly act of vigilante justice. It notes the prevailing patriarchal attitudes about sexual assault and those who survive it at the time, which made it easy for people to victim blame rather than accept that someone they know is capable of committing a horrific crime. The impact of this backlash on victims and their families, including temporary insanity, is also discussed.
The interviews with Mari Carmen are a bit long, and some of the artistic cinematography presented as a way of breaking up these conversations sometimes feel over the top. Nonetheless, Hell on Earth: The Verónica Case succeeds at demonstrating how the overall events that took place led to a sensational case that motivated a national conversation about sexual assault, and how victims are treated when they report it.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about vigilante justice. What would motivate someone to take the law into their own hands? Is it ever acceptable or excusable?
Verónica Rodríguez García states that Hell on Earth: The Verónica Case is giving her mother the chance to tell to tell her story from her point of view. Does this impact the accuracy of the docuseries?
TV Details
- Premiere date: May 21, 2024
- Network: Max
- Genre: Reality TV
- TV rating: TV-MA
- Last updated: June 11, 2024
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