100% The Invisible War
According to our government's records, over 20% of female veterans were sexually assaulted while serving in the military. This is but one of the many damning statistics revealed in "The Invisible War", a documentary about soldiers raping soldiers and routinely getting away with it. Though most of the victims featured in the film are women, there's also a smattering of men. Not surprisingly, every single one of the accused rapists is a man. The stories the women tell are strikingly similar. Many came from military families and were gung-ho about serving their country. All loved the military at first but eventually found themselves in an environment where sexual harassment was rampant and accepted. Some complained to their superiors and were told to suck it up. All were eventually raped, some on more than one occasion. None of the rapists were ever prosecuted. In some cases, the women themselves were charged with fraternization or adultery after reporting the crimes. Pretty outrageous stuff to be sure, the sort of treatment of rape victims you'd expect to happen in Saudi Arabia, not here, in the land of the free and the home of the brave. But after hearing the women's stories it all starts to make sense. How they were threatened with demotions for filing false charges to discourage them from coming forward in the first place. How their commanding officers were often buddies with the rapists. How sometimes the commanding officers actually WERE the rapists. How these officers had complete discretion about whether to prosecute the cases or drop the charges. And how having documented rapes in their units would reflect poorly on them and possibly even harm their careers. Why does this all sound so familiar, I thought as I watched this film. And then it hit me. Jerry Sandusky and the Penn State scandal. A culture of protecting your peers. A culture of protecting the reputation of the institution. Repeated decisions by those who could help the victims to choose to not make waves for fear of jeopardizing their own careers. But the obvious difference here is that instead of one lone perv being allowed to go unpunished by a disapproving majority, many in the military seem to believe that sexual harassment of their female platoon-mates is perfectly OK, if not actually the women's fault. "The Invisible War" is the latest in a long line of outrage documentaries, meant to "raise awareness" about a particular issue and spur its viewers to action about handgun violence, melting ice caps, the health care crisis, or failing schools. But though some of these films are controversial, if there's another side to this particular story it's hard to imagine what it would be. The featured women are strong and credible and their experiences are so similar that it's almost impossible to doubt them. Perhaps the stance that some of them have adopted whereby they actually advise potential female recruits not to sign up for fear that they'll also be raped seems a bit exaggerated, but it's certainly understandable. There is nothing at all enjoyable about watching "The Invisible War". The only ray of hope is a title card inserted before the closing credits that indicates that the film's viewing by key lawmakers has prompted one significant change for the better. So at least that's something. But as the movie also points out, it's already been over twenty years since the 1991 Tailhook scandal brought sexual assault in the military to the forefront. Small victories notwithstanding, celebrating may still be a bit premature.
July 15, 2012Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_invisible_war/
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