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| THE INVISIBLE WAR
(director/writer: Kirby Dick/Amy Ziering;
cinematographers: Thaddeus
Waddleigh/Kristen Johnson; editors: Doug
Blush/Derek Boonstra; music: Mary
J. Blige; cast: Kori Cioca, Jessica
Hinves, Anu Bhagwati, Elle Helmer, Hannah Sewell, Rob
McDonald, Loree Sutton, Russell Strand, Stace Nelson,
Russell Strand, Amy Herdy, Susan Burke, Helen
Benedict, Loretta Sanchez, Jackie Speier, Susan Davis,
Niki Tsongas, Anthony Kurta, Mary Kay Hertog, Kaye
Whitley, Wilma Vaught; Runtime: 97; MPAA Rating:
NR; producers: Amy Ziering/Tanner
King Barklow; Cinedigm Entertainment/ Docurama
Films; 2011) "A disquieting investigative essential documentary that sheds light on the massive problem of rape and the systemic cover-ups in the US military." Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz A
disquieting investigative essential documentary that
sheds light on the massive problem of rape and the
systemic cover-ups in the US military. The
Defense Department reports that 22,800 violent sex
crimes were committed in the military last year
alone, and many others were not reported because
the military makes it difficult for the victim to get
justice. Astonishingly twenty percent of all
active-duty female soldiers are sexually assaulted.
The powerful film lets the many idealistic victims
tell in their own words their story, and how for them
the attempt to get justice might have been just as
agonizing as the rape. All the interviews are
emotionally charged and someone would have a stone
heart not to be moved by how the military has betrayed
these vulnerable servicewomen. The problem of rape in
the military and the poor follow-up of claims for
medical help through the bureaucratic VA is not
exactly a secret, but as reported here, it is shocking
and damning of the military command. Talking
head interviews include speaking to victim enabler
Mary Kay Hertog, head of the defense department's
Sexual Assault and Prevention and Response Office, who
incredibly praises her inept predecessor, Kaye
Whitley, even though while in office she continued the
military's habit of blaming the victim and protecting
or even rewarding the offender. The
Invisible War takes us from the 1991 Tailhook Association
meeting incident of the Navy to the sex scandal
at the Air Force Academy in 2003. Muckraker
filmmaker Kirby Dick ("Twist of Faith"/"This Film
is Not Yet Rated"/"Sick: The Life and Death
of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist"), co-directs
with Amy Ziering, this unpleasant but
necessary film. Inspired by Helen Benedict's
2007 Salon article on women in Iraq,
which surprised the author to discover no one was
adapting the procedures put in place because of the
publicity from the widely covered sex scandals by the
academies. The filmmakers ask what needs to be done
further to change the military's disgraceful macho
culture that prosecute rape by blaming the vic. As a
result of the film, which speaks to its power, the
Pentagon has applied new rules for reporting assaults
and new prosecution procedures that supposedly will
improve things for the victims. The
film was the Audience Award winner for best
documentary at Sundance in 2012. REVIEWED ON 11/19/2012 GRADE: B+ Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews" © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ |