Netflix’s ‘Procession’ is a therapeutic experiment, using drama to ease past trauma

Filmmaker Robert Greene makes experimental documentaries and in his new Netflix project “Procession,” he yet again tries something new. The movie follows Dan Laurine and five other victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests, as they use drama to ease the burden of their traumatic childhoods. They write and re-enact scenes based on the painful past — scenes that are not at all graphic but still carry a powerful emotional charge.

Laurine is a location manager in Kansas City, and at first, he was just going to work behind the camera. Eventually he changed his mind, not really imagining that the film would ever have much of an audience. Now, that’s changed.

“It’s just in the past few months that we realize what it’s becoming by Netflix actually picking this up and promoting it. It legitimizes us,” Laurine says. “All of our anxieties, hopes and desires, now are being turned into this idea that we could actually facilitate change and help people? That is something great to wake up to.”

Laurine and “Procession” director Robert Greene tell KCRW how they hope their film can make a positive difference for other survivors.