Where I Watched It: Netflix
English Audio Description?: Yes
I think people have seen enough news to know what’s up with the Boy Scouts. As a one time Cub Scout who barely achieved a few badges, I realized that the outdoor life was not for me. I probably saved myself some horrible experience, as Scout’s Honor details. Honestly, I think I wanted this documentary to be more incendiary like the works of Kirby Dick, who blows the doors off whatever topic he’s attacking. his documentaries are rousing and impactful, and Scout’s Honor just decides to play it safe.
The feature does a good job of laying the information out. It has a wide range of testimonials, from whistleblowers, to victims, to investigators. It’s a comprehensive overview of the scandal, as far reaching back as the 1930’s, when a list of undesirables was started and kept in secret.
Some of the stories are shocking, because I think we always think “where are the parents?” One man’s mother drove him to a hotel out of that much misplaced faith in the troop leader. But where you can see the lack in need to sensationalize is when they start revealing the number of victims that came forward for a class action suit.
instead of letting it sit when it hits a high that seems unreasonable, it raises it pretty fast. My best comparison is how sick to my stomach and gutted i felt when watching Spotlight (when I still had vision) and seeing three full screens of towns listed that had a Catholic priest accused of misconduct. Had they chosen to throw that all in one screen, it would have been a lot, but the flipping of list after list made you wonder when it would stop.
The audio description does something that can possibly fix talking head documentaries that often find it difficult to say who is talking. The description here lets us know after the fact that a certain person just spoke. It’s better than never knowing.
It’s not a happy documentary, nor do I think it will be taking awards season by storm, but it is a solid look at a heinous act that took far too long to stop.
Final Grade: B