Cast: Helen Benedict, Anu Bhagwati, Susan Burke
Director: Kirby Dick
Country: USA
Genre: Documentary | Crime | Drama | History
Official Trailer: Here
The plot of this documentary alone is one of incredible frustration. After reading it, it’s shocking enough as it is and when you finally press play, it only gets worse and your feeling of disgust intensifies. There are a lot of problems with the armed forces, many of which are ignored because of the dangerous nature of their careers, this is one of the things that is ignored within it and really shouldn’t be. This documentary helps cement the fact that respect should be earned and not given automatically because of your title. It’s the reason why respect for soldiers goes overboard as they get privileges that others don’t because of the risk involved with their work that they voluntarily sign up for.
Now, this may get construed the wrong way as respect for the forces is admirable. They do a difficult job that is dangerous and they are at the forefront of a lot of things but when a person signs up to kill, sometimes their motives for this should be questioned. Killing is a difficult idea and the idea of living with the thought that you have killed people can be too much for soldiers as they then suffer from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and this affliction can be too much. It plagues them, changes them and haunts them and that is both horrific and heroic, that they can still feel even if it is too much for them to handle. The sad part is that war can also do the opposite; it can cause complete and utter apathy, rendering people emotionless machines of violent crimes and what that can lead to is rape.
This documentary helps cement the fact that respect should be earned and not given automatically because of your title.
This documentary confronts this and tells the stories of female and male soldiers who have suffered this atrocious act on them. Then it gets worse with the rapists being completely unpunished, unquestioned, uninvestigated because the people who are responsible to stop this are uninterested. Even worse than this, they can even be friends with the rapist and refuse to believe them or, worse, the rapist themselves. The broken system within the armed forces of America is the one in question. They want no negative light shed on them and ignore the pleas of the victims that only want justice for them, their fellow victims and the possible future victims.
It is utterly brutal and these brave soldiers, these heroes, come out regardless of the possible repercussions that can come from them standing up and telling us of the mistreatment of victims within the military. As the documentary progresses, the feeling of disgust does too. It gives you terrifying statistics that are unbelievable. It’s worrying that this story hasn’t come out sooner. It’s appalling in fact that it’s taken a documentary of this weight and independence for these stories to come out. We follow the lives of a few victims and one family especially and how it has affected her, her family, her intimacy issues, her mental state and how this has caused some of the worst PTSD in soldiers. Instead of justice, her rapist was promoted and defended. While there are no consequences to their actions the tally of victims grows and grows.
This poor woman was struck in the face so hard that her face is forever damaged and needs expensive surgeries to fix it so that she may be normal again. If it’s cold then she cannot go outside as her face locks up and living in a relatively cold climate with her daughter who loves frolicking outside, it can be hard to watch her do that with her father only from the window. There are plenty of more scenes which are heart wrenching: one man’s confession of him and his victim wife is particularly affecting. When his chest wrenches, yours does too. The anguish comes through the film and into your emotions, becoming a part of you, helping sully your definition of reality as the world is even grimmer than reported – which, let’s be honest, is a grim world that is reported continuously.
As the documentary progresses, the feeling of disgust does too. The Invisible War is a war that should be far from invisible…
The Invisible War is a war that should be far from invisible, these tales of brave victims and soldiers that were proud to serve and help protect for the right reasons had their lives demolished in a brief moment then stamped on when no one got punished. It’s a hard-hitting documentary that manages to bring statistics into a scary reality, emotions into an unknown problem, disgust to the offenders, more disgust for the defenders and a pain that can’t even reach the depths of the victims. One moment sums up rape in the military as an “occupational hazard.” This type of tolerance of abuse is one of the vilest things about the military, distorting the good few because the bad go unpunished for deeds that people deem acceptable or at least expected. None of these should be true! These heinous crimes are exposed with the film as violent as the abuse to your senses. Thanks to director Nick Kirby who helps these women strive for justice or at least bring knowledge of their suffering.
The power of the documentary is evident here as it brings something horrifying that the masses were left in the dark about and illuminates it so brightly that it’s hard that this could be the first time you’re hearing about it. In this, it shows you the damage of proceedings, the aftermath that damages the person, fractures their relationships and has a domino effect to all the people they know and will know. A mistrust implants itself in them that is automatic and with them being blamed themselves for it happening to them, it leaves them even worse for wear knowing that their mutilators are maiming more still. The documentary’s war to stop the misogynistic views and victim-blaming isn’t one to just highlight the issues but instead it gives solutions to the problems that numerous other militaries have already achieved. This isn’t an attack on all of the military but merely a highlight on the negatives it clearly has which need rectifying. It’s hard to be patriotic, jingoistic or proud when the people serving for you are parasites of a broken system. Fixing it is only a consolation now to the broken bodies along the way.
DVD Extras
The extras of the DVD give you a longer insight into the fractured souls brave enough to tell their stories. It is particularly difficult to watch as some even struggle to admit it themselves and keep it for years – one soldier kept it for decades. Then there are a few insights into the therapy sessions that help them exorcise their demons. Help now as the film finishes with the link, the link is here for those who haven’t yet seen nor yet can see it – though it is available on Netflix as well – www.notinvisible.org and help sign the petition that can help design a justice system capable of punishing the deserved.
[notification type=”star”]83/100 ~ GREAT. This isn’t an attack on all of the military but merely a highlight on the negatives it clearly has which need rectifying. It’s hard to be patriotic, jingoistic or proud when the people serving for you are parasites of a broken system. Fixing it is only a consolation now to the broken bodies along the way.[/notification]
