This October, the film Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer will hit theaters after a nearly four-year delay. The film, which depicts the trial of infamous Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell, was made in 2014. But, due to the sensitive nature of the film and its controversial content, distributers stayed away from the movie until this year.
Back in 2016, the film’s producers said that Hollywood was avoiding the movie because “they don’t want anything that asks difficult questions about abortion.” The film draws attention to Gosnell’s crimes of murdering infants born in his abortion facility and the corruption that allowed them to continue for so many years. In 2013, a Philadelphia court charged Gosnell to life in prison for the murder of three infants born alive in his abortion facility and the involuntary manslaughter of one mother.
While the case was under investigation, the media actively avoided covering it. Now, even years after the trial, executive producer John Sullivan says that the story still faces pushback from mainstream culture. “Hollywood is afraid of this content,” he explained. “It’s a true story the media tried to ignore from the very beginning, so I wasn’t surprised to see Hollywood ignore [our film].”
The film also encountered legal issues in 2017. According to The Daily Wire, judge Jeffery Minehart, who “presided over Gosnell’s trial, sued to shop the film’s release.” His concern was that the film depicted him as one of the corrupt governing officials who took part in covering up Gosnell’s crimes. The Hollywood Reporter says that the legal matter is finally resolved, however.
GVN Releasing finally picked up the movie this year, ending the long wait. Now, more than 700 theaters across the nation are slated to show the movie when it comes out in October. The filmmakers hope that the movie will be a fair telling of a story that needs to be told. As one producer put it, “The cover-up stops here.”
Leah Hickman is a 2017 graduate of Hillsdale College’s English program. She freelances for BreakPoint.org and has written pieces for multiple Hillsdale College campus publications as well as for ChristianAnswers.net/Spotlight and the Discover Laura Blog. Read more by Leah at aworldofgrasspeople.blogspot.com.
Photo courtesy: Facebook/Gosnell Movie
Publication date: June 28, 2018
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