The Invisible War

★★★★

(2012)

Kirby Dick's documentary about the sexual abuse epidemic within the American military service is filled to the brim with jaw dropping statistics. Statistics so vile and heartbreaking that they deepen the stories in his very personal and insightful work by adding the faces of thousands and thousands of unseen and unheard victims to the ones interviewed in The Invisible War. The name of the film comes from a statistic which claims that 30% of service women are sexually assaulted during their enlistment and therefore, women in combat are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by the enemy.

Dick sets his sights on the hierarchical incompetence of the justice system within the armed forces and, by talking to dozens of rape survivors about their cases, attempts to make a mockery out of the superiors in charge of bringing the assailants to justice. His may HD cameras show nothing of any graphic detail but they capture the pain and horror of sexual abuse unflinchingly by never turning away from the victims, something which the great American corps have done with sickening ease.

As an expose it is certainly an important one. The film has already succeeded in convincing the government to take the litigation out of the hands of (in some cases) the very people who committed the crimes and into the hands of impartial civilians. As a look at how a person's life can be altered and crushed after rape it is deeply sad and powerful. Simply, as a film, it is both well made and admirably defiant and brave, giving a straight talking, no mercy voice to these broken women and their families.

The Invisible War isn't a film you can recommend or love but like much of Kirby Dick's work (see Sick: The Life & Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist) it is more important than merely finding the time to sit down and watch it. It will make your blood boil. Out of the three and a half thousand claims of sexual abuse in 2012 only a mere 100 of them were convicted. You should be outraged by that statistic and you should be outraged by Dick's film. A bold, compelling and important document which you must see.

http://www.notinvisible.org/