Disturbing look at a hidden life
Almost two years after its debut at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, Kiwis finally get the chance to see a truly compelling and disturbing celebrity docu-series.
Yes, Robbie Williams sitting in his undies lamenting his life and David Beckham reliving the vitriol he received after being sent off at the 2002 World Cup have nothing on the testimony and footage in the four-part We Need to Talk About Cosby (now streaming on TVNZ+).
Like Allen v Farrow, W Kamau Bell’s Emmy-nominated and Peabody Awardwinning tale contrasts an incredibly successful public-facing showbiz career, with a private hell that so many women (some of whom front up here) say Bill Cosby put them through, as he abused his power. And, as Leaving Neverland did five years ago, this is likely to be one of the most talked about shows of the summer.
Aside from detailing and reminding us just what a groundbreaking and beloved actor and comedian Cosby was once viewed as, Bell’s skill is in demonstrating just how brazen he was when it came to admitting his predatory behaviour and apparently routine drugging of women (a chilling stand-up comedy routine in 1969, a creepy interview with Larry King in 1991 just two obvious examples).
There was even a chapter in his 1991 book Childhood detailing his attempts to secretly sprinkle a chemical on cookies to give to girls at a party when they were 13.
But, as more than one of “the funny, brave people” (a mix of comedians, journalists and survivors) who agreed to be interviewed by Bell admits, their feelings about Cosby are more complex than others exposed in the #MeToo reckoning of Hollywood, because of “all the good he did” earlier in his life.
A gifted physical comedian and storyteller, the young Cosby was the first African American stand-up to play in front of white audiences.
While starring as the erudite, multilingual Alexander Scott in The Man From U.N.C.LE.-esque I Spy, he became the first Black actor to win an acting Emmy, eventually taking the prize for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series three years in a row (at the same time he was in the middle of a six-year tenure as the serial winner of the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album). On set, he successfully fought for the show to hire Black stunt performers.
However, as even Kiwi kids of a certain age know, it was in the 1970s and 80s that Cosby really became influential. Through his work on The Electric Company and Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, he became a role model and cultural icon, educating children around the globe about “doing the right thing”.
The subsequent eight-season run of family sitcom The Cosby Show not only demonstrated his hold over audiences, but also his unofficial status as “America’s Dad”. Which makes what he was allegedly doing off-screen even more shocking.
As one interviewee puts it, “he was the centre of morality, but just behind the curtain he was engaged in some of the most immoral shit imaginable”.
What I think sets We Need To Talk About Cosby apart from other #MeToo docu-series like Phoenix Rising or Allen v Farrow, though, is that this isn’t just an exposé (although it contains plenty of damning evidence and testimony).
As its title suggests, this is a genuine attempt to try to wrestle with Cosby’s complicated legacy and ask “what do we do with what we know now?”
Depending on your age, you’ll reminisce, you’ll be appalled and outraged, but mostly, you’ll feel both challenged and left with plenty to ponder. Which surely is what all good documentaries should be aspiring to do.
We Need To Talk About Cosby is now available to stream on TVNZ+.