In a Town This Size

Bartlesville, Oklahoma—a well-off town that is home to a populace of 35,000, and serves as the headquarters for Phillips Petroleum—is the setting for Patrick V. Brown's quietly devastating documentary, which focuses on episodes of child abuse involving respected pediatrician Dr. Bill Dougherty Jr., who took advantage of numerous patients during the 1960s and '70s. Supplemented with archival material—stills, TV news clips, and newspaper articles—this sad story is primarily told through recollections by those who were abused, and their relatives, who grieve not only over the damage to their children's lives but over their own failure to realize what was happening in the office and home of a trusted doctor and friend. During a conversation with a therapist who discusses the psychological effects of such cases, Brown reveals that he was one of Dougherty's victims, and he eventually goes to the perpetrator's house, receiving no response when he hammers on the front door. In a Town This Size importantly calls attention to the ineffectiveness of laws requiring those victimized to bring charges within two years of being abused—a loophole that allowed Dougherty to escape punishment. DVD extras include bonus interviews, deleted scenes, a resource guide, and an epilogue detailing the film's screening at various festivals and in Bartlesville. Offering a moving treatment of a challenging subject, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)