In the last two years, a series of scalding and essential documentaries — “Leaving Neverland,” “Surviving R.
Kelly,” “Untouchable,” “On the Record,” “Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich” — have shined a light on the contours of sexual abuse and the supreme, if not obscene, concentration of power that too often allows it to be concealed and perpetuated.
In most of these high-profile cases, the power emanates from one figure who is either a celebrity or a backstage manipulator of celebrity: Harvey Weinstein, Michael Jackson, Russell Simmons, Jeffrey Epstein, R.
Kelly.
The power wielded by these men has been total and destructive: the ability to threaten and terrorize, to twist and ruin careers, to suppress and squash the rule of law.“Athlete A,” Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk’s disturbing and illuminating documentary about the sexual-abuse scandal that struck the U.S.
Olympic women’s gymnastics team in 2016, is centered around an individual who was,
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