As all of us are at home due to the closing of schools because of the coronavirus, our use of Netflix may increase. If you are interested in documentaries, The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez should be an option to consider.

 

The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez is the newest documentary released on February 26, 2020 on Netflix, and according to Netflix, the series received an average of 83% on the tomato meter. The six-part documentary is meant to bring awareness to child abuse and to expose the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.

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Before viewing this documentary, I was aware that it would touch on the topic of child abuse, and how Gabriel Fernandez, the main character was impacted. It allowed me to view all aspects of how Gabriel was tortured, mistreated, malnourished, and ultimately it led to his death on May 24, 2013.

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According to The Wrap, journalist, Garrett Therolf, who reported for the Los Angeles Times, was the first to take a deeper look into the case of Gabriel Fernandez. Mr. Therolf faced several obstacles to obtain the information from the Department of Children and Family Services. The authorities and bureaucrats made it difficult for him, they wanted to keep everything private. When they found out he’d contact people from the inside, they did a search of every email he sent out to a county address and did everything to stop him. Once the county discovered who the inside sources were, they threatened them with criminal prosecution. Without his work, Pearl Fernandez would not have been sentenced to life in prison in 2018 and her boyfriend to first-degree murder and later sentenced to death.

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He made the discovery of the several calls made by teachers and family members to the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.  According to Therolf’s article,“Why Did No One Save Gabriel?”, his first-grade teacher, Jennifer Garcia, called about 4 times, each for separate instances of abuse. She was left on voicemail several times. Arturo Martinez, the security guard that worked at the Welfare Office called after seeing cigarette burns, bruises, and yellow skin.  One of the social workers, Stefanie Rodriguez, who was 27 at the time, was a newcomer who had a bachelor’s degree in psychology and had no academic qualification in social work. She already had 40 children assigned to her. Therolf concluded that several visits were made to the home, but they failed to see how Gabriel was doing and simply believed the words of his mother.

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He would be the journalist who made the making of The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez possible. Netflix would focus the documentary on the interviewing of several people who knew of Gabriel. Social workers, teachers, family members, and even attorneys were all involved. When delivering her testimony, Gabriel’s sister, Virginia, who is now 16, remembers her mother making Gabriel eat cat poop. She mentioned that they also made him dance while they shot him with the BB gun.

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Most of the documentary is filmed in California, as that is where the incident occurred. The documentary does it’s best to touch up on every side of the story, interviewing anyone they can to get as much intel. Not only were the interviews informative, but the recording, images, and paperwork presented throughout it were also very detailed and informing. The trials that would convict those who failed to help Gabriel would also be included in the documentary.

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They filmed the house where the maltreatment occurred, the jail where Pearl and Isauro were held, as well as the courtroom while the trials were occurring. The way the producers set everything up, made it easy to comprehend.

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 It was shocking to see the number of interviews they did, questioning relatives and their thoughts on what occurred. Though Gabriel had several relatives who knew what was going on, many of them failed to report it. When asked what she thought of the documentary, Ms. Mendez, a paraprofessional at ECHS, replied, “I like it, it was very informative, it looked into all parts of the story.”