These men raped, killed. They are serving long sentences, from ten to twenty years. Today, they are looking to get an early release. How to guarantee that they do not reoffend, once outside? To weigh this risk, a specialized team monitors and listens to candidates for parole for six weeks, twenty-four hours a day, within the National Assessment Center. This unknown institution, located in Fresnes, opened its doors to the team of the program “Infrarouge”, which takes us into its pale corridors. Psychological appointments, phone tapping, exchanges with prison integration and probation advisers, etc.
What is the mea culpa of a rapist worth?
The documentary follows the journey of four detainees seeking release, anonymized and often masked. He rewinds their dented lives that led to the worst: alcoholism, nights in the parental bed until the age of 10, the rape suffered at 17, the father imprisoned. Then it is the examination of the facts, during interviews aimed at assessing whether an awareness has matured, at the end of these long years spent behind bars. Former presenter of “Bring in the accused”, journalist Frédérique Lantieri invites the viewer to ask questions, too.
What is the mea culpa of this rapist of an 85-year-old old lady who says she has forgotten all about her crime? Similarly, one can doubt the sincerity of this 50-year-old, convicted for the rape of his 13-year-old niece, who clearly minimizes his gesture (“We did it together”he lets go in front of his dumbfounded shrink) before asserting himself ultimately the only “responsible in history”. But, sometimes, hope emerges. Witness, this killer of a drug dealer, when he recounts his relationship “fusional” with her son who was only 4 years old when he was incarcerated. We come out shaken by this sober and moving documentary where, despite the inevitable part of doubt, the path of redemption is envisaged, fragile.
Wednesday January 18 at 11:05 p.m. on France 2. Documentary by Frédérique Lantieri (2022). 1h05. Infrared presented by Marie Drucker. (Available in replay on france.tv).
