We watched a four-part series called The Victim on CBC Gem not too long ago. I had just finished a study group on forgiveness when we sat down to the first episode of this police procedural, thriller...I'm not really sure how to term it.
It focusses around the killing of one child by another years ago and a mother's relentless desire to name the murderer who served a prison sentence and was eventually released under another identity. An adult man who is married and a parent is "outed" and persecuted by those supporting the aggrieved mother, but is he actually the child murderer? We spend the entire series watching his life come unravelled by the public accusation wondering who the real victim is.
The mother has been terribly victimized, of course, but her obsession with finding the murderer, and her toxic hatred make her difficult to like. In one episode she is confronted by her second husband (her first marriage collapsed under the weight of grief) who speaks to her about forgiveness. He is both desperate and wise, and attempts to help her see that hatred is destroying her and their family, and that letting go is necessary, regardless of what it means for the boy/man who ended the life of her child. Her response seems both reasonable and without recognition of the toll her unrelenting anger is taking.
This was an excellent scene which addressed a number of important forgiveness issues. I would have loved to have that clip to use during the study group.
The acting in The Victim is exceptional, and while episode 2 lags a bit, it picks up speed for the last two.
Has anyone seen it? Were you struck by that forgiveness scene?
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