Unforgotten is a very powerful and very sad account of a terrible part of our nation’s history. It is the story of a handful of families that lived through a family member’s life at Willowbrook. The story of Willowbrook is one that his been told many times. The horrors that occurred in the facility have been well documented. The filmmakers make the wise decision of just focusing on these few accounts of how families dealt with before, during and after having siblings and children spending years locked away in this facility that was supposed to care for their disabled relatives. Going into the documentary I knew it was going to be rough, but the film effected me more than I originally prepared for. It is sad but amazing to see how these people have dealt with the repercussions of living with not only the repercussions of their family members ailments but the way they were treated for years.
Watching Unforgotten makes you very grateful for what you have and the abilities we all take for granted. I couldn’t help but think about what I would have done if in the position of some of these families at the time. Would I have sent my child to live with others in the hopes that they could care for them better than I could have?
I don’t know, I am lucky enough to have never been faced with these decisions. The one thing that comes through is that these families loved their children and made the best decision they saw available to them at the time. I am just grateful that the choices for these people have been made easier as the establishments we have to care for the disabled have improved.
The film acts as a snapshot of our national history. One that we have hopefully evolved past. It is amazing to see that these kids who were at one point deemed helpless have gone on to live instead of rot in an unforgiving landscape like Willowbrook. Unforgotten is now available to view on Netflix Instant Viewing and deserves to be seen.
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