The real story of a man destroyed by justice Imagine waking up one night to hear knocks on the door. You open it, you are brutally grabbed by the justices, and you and your wife are accused of child abuse. You will be sent to prison and your three children to an orphanage. It's hard to imagine, isn't it? But that’s exactly what happened with Alain Mareco in 2001.
Presumption of Guilt 2011 is a vivid and terrifying story about the fact that you do not need to be a criminal to pay for other people’s denunciations and mistakes in the justice system. Alain Mareco himself was a representative of the authorities - he worked as a bailiff. He led a normal average life, spent a lot of time at work, and at home he was waiting for his wife and three young children.
Once he and his wife were arrested, searched the whole house, and then brought to the police station and said – strangers to him told the police that he and his wife raped children and was part of a powerful group engaged in the creation of a specific video.
Russia’s 2014 Leviathan ends with the heartbreaking words of a man sentenced to prison, “I don’t understand anything.” But it was just a fictional story. And “Presumption of Guilt” is a true story in which a person spent more than one month behind bars and the only thing he could say was “I don’t understand anything.”
The presumption of guilt shows how easily a person can become a criminal. How easy it is to destroy it by pointing a finger. How easily empowered judges and other officials are willing to turn a blind eye to the facts, preferring to jail someone who is already in their hands. . .
Presumption of Guilt is a scary movie. And despite the fact that it is based on real events and clearly traces the real course of events, it cannot be perceived as true. The film tells a story so creepy that it is perceived as surrealism. Proof that sometimes the worst fantasies and dreams are nothing compared to what people do.