Documentality: Natalia Speaks

Natalia Speaks 4/10

I have to stay for the record that L. and I did watch the first Natalia Grace (which I would have given a 9/10 just for pure nonsense factor) documentary. For some reason I did not write about it and assumed that I had. The basic premise is that this couple name the Barnett's adopted this little girl named Natalia who was from a Ukrainian orphanage. Over time they started saying that she had mental problems and that she was violent and would do things like stand at the edge of their bed holding a knife and attacking other children. Next thing you know they got this girl in a mental hospital and then moved her own her own to this two-story house and then they also moved her to this place that looks like the type of area you would go to do drugs and die. So the entire time the family is saying this is an adult woman pretending to be a little girl because they said she got her period and had pubic hair and the way she talked seemed to adult for a child. That's the basic story going into this chaos.

The parents that adopted her are named Kristine and Michael Barnett. You will not like either of these people. Both of them are horrible in different ways. Kristine seems to be the more active abuser and her husband Michael says that he was a victim of her as well. Michael just cries. Constantly. This man has cried more on camera than I have in my entire life. So this new documentary was supposed to be her explaining her side of the story and actually getting a chance to sit down and speak to Michael about it. I'll just jump real quick to the part where she meets Michael. She goes there with her new family which is a pastor and his wife (and the pastor is a whole 'nother story because this man was instantly annoying with his religious fervor).

Michael ends up leaving because the pastor asked him to stop cursing so much and he storms out of the place. They end up meeting again and all he does is say that his now ex-wife Kristine will not let him see two of his sons and he has one of the other sons living with him. The son that is living with him is the one that Kristine made money off of by saying that he was such a genius and she could help your child become a genius as well. So Natalia and Michael end up meeting again and she forgives him and it's all a whole bunch of nonsense. This man should not have been forgiven: this man should be in therapy.

So through the stories from Natalia she seems to be innocent of anything that she's accused of. She goes to scientists and they actually check her DNA and everything and it turns out that she was actually a small funky child being forced to live on her own. That is the one thing that can be confirmed through all this is that the Barnett's forced a disabled dwarf child to live on her own. Natalia as L. pointed out would not own up to anything that painted her in a bad light. They go and talk to former neighbors of hers and they bring up issues from when she was acting sexual at the mental institution and from neighbors who were afraid of her because of what they were told about her violent behavior. The main way that I can defend Natalia and any of this is that this girl never had a chance.

She was bounced around from the orphanage. Given up pretty much at birth by her mother. Adopted a couple of times for small instances and then landed in the craziest fucking environment you could have put any child in. She is not going to be a normal adult. Now she shacked up with this intense ass pastor and his wife and about 10 other children with various forms of disabilities.

If you like me we're hoping to watch this to get any concrete answers or admissions of guilt by anybody I assure you that you will not. Kristine says she's innocent. By the way she does not appear in this. She posted a very long Facebook post about her innocence. Michael does not admit to any wrongdoing. Natalia does not admit to any wrongdoing. Everybody is innocent of anything that they have ever done and they are all just victims in some way. The main kicker is that at the very end of this after Natalia has been adopted by this new family officially and she's going to change her last name they play a phone call. The phone call is from her new adopted father and mother saying that Natalia is out of control and turn her back on them and I quote “this girl is tweaking.” I'm pretty sure I'm not going to watch whatever else they have to say about this girl and these crazy ass people. I just want to know if she was actually a little kid forced to live on her own really and I found out that she was. Through that alone these people should have been put in jail. Otherwise I don't care what these people do with their life because they are all insane.

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