Review of The Shoeshine Boy by Toronto Star Columnist Vinay Menon
In the summer of 1977, the chilling murder of 12-year-old Emanuel Jaques stunned Toronto . Emanuel, the son of Portuguese immigrants, was earning a few dollars shining shoes on Yonge St. when he was abducted.
The boy's battered body was later found stuffed into a garbage bag on a downtown rooftop. Emanuel had been raped and tortured.
The Shoeshine Boy (OMNI 1, 9 p.m. Saturday) examines the ghastly killing and the indelible impact it would crater into the city's psyche. Using archival footage, re-enactments and new interviews with Toronto luminaries, the one-hour documentary begins with Emanuel's disappearance.
Eventually, four men would be charged with his murder. Details and testimony were so heinous, the judge called the case a "forced march through a sewer."
The Shoeshine Boy was directed and produced by Bill Moniz , who also hosted the recently aired Portuguese version. The English broadcast is written and hosted by my colleague Dale Brazao , an investigative journalist par excellence who covered the story for this paper in 1977.
In the past, when I've, say, misplaced my car keys, I've been tempted to call Braz: the guy can find anything and anyone. Here, his inclination toward spare, lucid prose with colourful imagery is on display.
The documentary uses the murder to catapult into a broader discussion, including the rise of the city's Portuguese community. Thousands mobilized, protested and exerted pressure on the city to shut down the porn stores and rub parlours that had turned Yonge into a depraved "cesspool."
As Brazao notes in voice-over: "The murder may have given the Portuguese the voice they had lacked since their arrival in Canada . But the tragedy also made many look inward, leaving them feeling frightened. It shattered their illusion of Canada as a safe and benevolent haven."
Watching The Shoeshine Boy, one can still feel the visceral grief, shock and rage that blistered in Toronto after Emanuel's murder. Nearly three decades later, this is a story we must never forget.
vmenon@thestar.ca
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