Post date: Jun 21, 2012 11:26:13 PM
CINEDIGM / DOCURAMA FILMS - "The Invisible War," a documentary about the thousands of reported sexual assaults that take place in the U.S. military every year, is due to hit theaters, but it is already having an impact in Washington, D.C.
Film-makers Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering explore rape within the U.S. military in the documentary "The Invisible War."
In the movie, film-makers Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering explore rape within the U.S. armed forces and the government's handling - or as the film suggests, mishandling - of the cases.
"It's a systemic problem because the military, the Pentagon, the Department of Defense up until now have not taken on this issue and gone after these perpetrators, who are really serial perpetrators, they're the people who rape again and again, they have not gone after them with the same will that they fight a war. These are really enemies within and they need to go after them and take care of these people," said Dick.
And the U.S. government has taken notice. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has announced a change in the way in which reported rapes will be investigated in the military - and he told one of the film's executive producers that the screening was partly responsible for his decision.
The biggest obstacle rape victim's face in the military is that there is no court to take the matter to - only a commanding officer, who then has the responsibility to either follow-up on the charge, or to ignore it. "The Invisible War" suggests that all to often, the charges are ignored.
And that's only the start of the problem for potential victims, said Ziering.
"When you get raped in civilian culture, the next day you don't necessarily have to report to work with your rapist. If you're raped in the military, you have to go to work the next day, your rapist has not yet been charged, he's usually
a comrade, a buddy or a higher ranking official. You have to go keep on working with him. That's very psychologically traumatizing and damaging."
Dick said that he ultimately believes that the end to rape in the military begins with the education of all soldiers, much like the U.S. did during the civil rights movement when soldiers were educated about segregation, helping to vastly reduce racial problems within the troops.
"These men are young, impressionable and they can be taught these values just like all the other core values the military teaches and then it will not only make us stronger for a stronger and better military, but it will make for a better society as well."
"The Invisible War" opens in select U.S. theaters on Friday (June 22).