Pennlive

'Happy Valley' movie is a mirror on sports and media culture, director Amir Bar- Lev says;
Article by: Charles Thompson
Email: cthompson@pennlive.com

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/11/happy_valley_is_a_mirror_on_sp.html#incart_river_entertainment

Charles Thompson has documented about Artist Michael Pilato paints over the image of Jerry Sandusky in his mural “Inspiration" in "Happy Valley. Amir Bar- Lev is not a huge fan of football but is here to document more of this story. Lots of people are well aware about the Sandusky Case and this is concerned as photojournalism because no matter how long this case has been going on about this whole situation there is always new information coming out about the whole trial. Everyone has their feelings as to how they feel about the case and what else has been done and needs to be changed. This article like much of the rest of the American public, it was kind of hard to miss the media feeding frenzy over one of the biggest sports-related scandals ever, and when that same scandal happened to fell a living legend like former Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno, Lev's story-telling instincts were locked on. Bar-Lev got a late, lucky break when, after most of Sandusky's abuse victims reached civil settlements with Penn State in the summer of 2013, Sandusky's adopted son, Matt, agreed to go on camera with his life's story.In prior interviews at this year's Sundance Film Festival, producer Kenneth Dornstein noted "Happy Valley" production was held up to get Matt's interviews in wrapping the week before Thanksgiving in 2013, Bar-Lev says those talks wound up giving the film one of its most compelling voices, and gave him a unique chance to contrast the oddly-conjoined fortunes of the two families in the eye of the storm. Now he had eyes into the world of Penn State's number one saint (Joe Paterno), and Penn State's number one sinner (Jerry Sandusky).In the end, Bar-Lev said he didn't see it as his job to annoint heroes and villains. Plenty of others are doing that - see the constant modifications of the well-known mural in downtown State College. Rather, he simply wants to hold the scandal up like a mirror for all to see and take the measure of what it says about 21^st Century society, and how we rush into what the film calls "shaming spectacles" over troubling stories, and then move on. To the degree that has happened at State College, Bar-Lev says he isn't condemning. He just wants viewers to look hard into that mirror one more time. It's up to them whether they feel what projects back or not needs a change.