How do you measure the impact of a horrific crime on a nation? And, more specifically, how does a crime involving children affect their peers? The End of Innocence is a haunting and gripping reconstruction of the extensively covered case of Marc Dutroux, who in the 1990s triggered a collective Belgian trauma, but who also united a divided nation.
The End of Innocence or Petites (The Little Ones) refers to a whole generation of Belgians who were children in the final decade of the last century. It was a time when young girls in the country started going missing, which set off both a massive hunt for the perpetrator(s) and a gigantic media circus. The country was wrapped in this the story and a whole generation of youngsters grew up in fear of being abducted – their personal freedom taken from them.
The documentary starts pleasantly with footage from that time, showing children doing things that children are supposed to do: roaming around carefree, climbing trees, playing hide and seek. In voice-over the now-adults talk about this period in their life before the series of events changed their perspective of the world forever.
A videotape inserted into a player marks the start of new era when the news of the first two girls’ disappearance breaks. The case immediately makes a deep impression, because of the parents we could all relate to and of the way the girls disappeared; in broad daylight, doing nothing out of the ordinary, just waving at cars passing underneath the bridge they were standing on.
The makers mix the media footage with videos of homely family situations of that time to paint an image of this generation of children, while their adult versions explains how events affected them then. Every new dramatic turn in the Dutroux case resulted in more confusion and enormous levels of stress, fear and loss of confidence – more children missing, the massive hunts, the arrest of the perpetrators along with two girls still alive, the discovery of a hidden cellar and bodies of more victims, the trials, the escape of Dutroux, the revelation of a paedophile network and the capital blunders that were made. It effected the collected loss of childhood and innocence, and only now, more than a century later, can that generation register the profound consequences from that time.
The documentary’s approach had me on the edge of my seat throughout; the use of the footage and its editing creates a stifling feeling of suspense, while the comments of the subjects (who are never visible) keep reminding us how close to home this horror was both for them and for all of us. And of course there are the impressive and heartbreaking scenes of the children’s release and the funerals, the mass demonstrations and the silent wakes afterwards, which send shivers down your spine.
Although I followed closely the Dutroux case back then (even living in a neighbouring country there was no escaping it) The End of Innocence manages to give a new perspective. It raises questions on accountability and society’s responsibility for all of its members – Dutroux is not a monster but a human being created by circumstances. It also touches on the fallibility of the Belgian judicial system and the necessity for collective grief.
But it also strikes a very delicate chord: is it an elder’s task to try and let children grow up unaware of possible danger? A lot of people would answer this question in the affirmative, but watching this film makes me think otherwise. Not because of what is implied but simply because of what is said by the children who were kept away from the ugly truth as it was unravelling. They had to make sense of conflicting pieces of information and would create their own version of the world, which of course would always be much more terrifying than reality – however gruesome. The End of Innocencemay be cathartic for the people involved but it could also serve as a necessary starting point for discussions on how far we are willing to go to keep our children away from the ‘damaging truth.’
Belgium, 2021, 83 minutes
Director: Pauline Beugnies
Assistant Director: Ruth Vandewalle
Producer: Laurence Buelens, Rayuela Productions
Writer: Pauline Beugnies
Editor: Léo Parmentier
Cinematography:
Tristan Galand
Composer: Lionel Vancauwenberge
Sound: Edith Herregods
Sound Editing: Lise Bouchez
Sound Mix: Jean-François Levillain
Sales: Reservoir Docs
