Doc Stars of the Month: Trinea Gonczar & Amanda Thomashow, 'At the Heart of Gold’

Erin Lee Carr (Thought Crimes: The Case of the Cannibal Cop; Mommy Dead and Dearest) has built an impressive career turning ripped-from-the-headlines stories (she is the daughter of late media icon David Carr, after all) featuring society’s “monsters” into sober reflections on society itself. So perhaps it was only a matter of time before the deft documentarian decided to tackle one of the most outrageous scandals in recent memory: the aiding and abetting of pedophile doctor Larry Nassar over decades by Michigan State University, USA Gymnastics and the organization’s Olympian-making affiliates (including superstar coaching couple Bela and Martha Karolyi).

For as horrific as Nassar’s behavior was — hundreds of girls and young women subject to sexual abuse in the guise of medical “treatments” for years on end — there was the equally appalling reaction of the adults surrounding him, who refused to believe those who did have the courage to speak up. Indeed, one of the most chilling aspects of this whole sordid mess was the systemic “gaslighting,” as one former gymnast described it, of the kids who chose to come forward. Adults who didn’t want to face the truth simply told the adolescent victims that the molestation that was happening wasn’t actually happening, which the girls then often accepted — only to find out years later, once Nassar was revealed as a serial predator, that what they were comfortingly assured was reality wasn’t actually reality. In other words, a matrix of crimes — physical, psychological and emotional — by a multitude of culprits ultimately occurred.

To untangle the thorny drama, Documentary turned to two heroic women — Trinea Gonczar, a longtime family friend of Nassar’s and one of his earliest victims, and Amanda Thomashow, who filed the first Title IX complaint against him — to discuss everything from the intense coverage surrounding the shocking case to the symbiotic impact of #MeToo.

To read my interview with the remarkable ladies visit Documentary magazine.