The Invisible War (2012)

Nominated for:  Best Documentary Feature    This was an extremely difficult movie for me to watch.  It made me so angry.  And it should.  It should make everyone angry until something is done about it.

I don't know most of you readers so let's pretend you're a woman (if you're not already).  You're applying for a job and the prospective employer is very interested, very enthusiastic, and assures you you'll be perfect.  Right before you stand up to leave, you're shaking his hand and he says "oh, by the way, you should know that if you take this job, there's about a one in five chance of being raped or sexually assaulted by a co-worker.  It's just an occupational hazard."

Do you take the job?

Hundreds of thousands of American servicewomen did.  They found themselves bullied and brutalized by the very people who were supposed to stand next to them in combat, the people they were to trust with their lives.  When they reported, like they were told to do, they were punished.  Several women featured in this documentary were forced to work everyday alongside their attacker.  They were never given any options other than "suck it up".  All of them contemplated suicide.  And those were just the ones who reported the crime.

Having been a woman in the military (Army), I can say that I was never raped by a co-worker.  There was an attempt by another soldier, a friend of a friend's boyfriend, but I managed to fend it off.  I didn't report it because, the way I saw it, nothing happened.  Now I wonder how many girls he found that were deeper sleepers than I was.  The sad truth is that most rapists will never get the punishment they deserve, if they get any at all.  Because the unit commander has the final say in whether or not a case is even pursued.  It's not like you can just go to the police, have the guy arrested, and then have your day in court.  Your unit commander decides whether or not to start an investigation and whether or not it's substantive.  For many of the servicemembers (because men get raped too) in this documentary, that meant their abuser gets a slap on the wrist and is released to torment others. 

The "occupational hazard" line up there?  That's not a joke.  That's what the Supreme Court decreed when they dismissed the injured servicewomen's suit against the government.  They were not eligible to sue because rape was an occupational hazard.

This is probably the most painful documentary I've ever had to watch and it makes me soul-sick to think that this culture is being perpetuated.  The one bright spot:  apparently, the Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, watched this movie back in April of 2012 and immediately took authority out of unit commanders' hands.  Now cases have to be adjucated by impartial parties.  It's a step in the right direction.

I think this is an important film for everyone to see because no matter what your thoughts on war or politics, I think we can all agree that nobody deserves to work in a field where the possibility of getting raped is ever just part of the job.