Netflix users have been left shocked and 'heartbroken' by a true crime series that offers a harrowing insight to a certain industry.
The concept of the American Dream is one of power and success; agency and freedom.
The reality is rarely true, and perhaps no one knows that better than the survivors who form the subject of a harrowing Netflix documentary that arrived on the streaming service this month.
Titled The Program: Cons, Cults and Kidnapping, the series follows a group of former students who were sent to receive an education - if you could call it that - at an establishment named The Academy at Ivy Ridge after being deemed 'troubled teens'.
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It's directed by one of the former students, Katherine Kubler, who returned to Ivy Ridge after it shut down in an attempt to expose the horrific treatment and abuse faced by the children whose parents had sent them there, hoping it would improve their behavior.
Speaking to Tudum, Kubler explained: “For a long time, I wasn’t going to include my story because I just wanted to be a filmmaker and make it about this issue, not me.
"But after all the years of research, when I found my own file and learned that it’s my very own program that left all this evidence behind, I was like, ‘Oh no, I’m going to have to be in this now.’”
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In the thee episodes, Kubler and her fellow students recall life at Ivy Ridge, where they were often prohibited from speaking, looking at one another or even looking out of the window.
Interviewees described having to repeat mantras over and over again for hours on end, and being forced to lie face down and unmoving on the floor.
The Program: Cons, Cults and Kidnapping reveals how program leaders took advantage of the 'troubled teen' industry to continue to open new schools when others closed down, with the parents of students often left none the wiser to the reality of what their children were going through.
Viewers have been left stunned by the revelations, with many taking to LADbible's Netflix Bangers page to share their reactions.
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"Heartbreaking," one viewer wrote after watching the documentary, adding: "How are these places still running!!"
"So sad that kids go through that. And they still running these places," another added.
Kubler has expressed her hope that the documentary will help raise awareness to the issue, and told viewers: “One thing people can do to take action is to contact their representatives to get this bill passed and push for oversight and regulation into this industry.
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"The program was so traumatizing, a lot of us tried to forget about it and pretend it didn’t happen. But now, people are starting to speak out.”
Topics: Netflix, Film and TV, US News
Emily Brown