The Invisible War (2012)

Perfect cast and a good story

Excellent adaptation.

Captivating movie !

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

I've watched this documentary three times now, and I found myself losing no amount of shock or horror with each new viewing. This is how I know The Invisible War is such a good film: it doesn't get old, it can't get boring, and it won't become unimportant. Everything about this film was masterfully crafted to display its message, but it helps that the message is so powerful on its own.I'd challenge you to find someone who will openly say sexual assault, harassment, and rape are not a big deal. Collectively, Western society agrees that it is morally wrong; but people are surprisingly reluctant to admit it is very common, rather than some horrible heinous act that happens once in a blue moon to unlucky ladies. It's estimated that one in four to six women will experience sexual assault in their life time (based on the women I know personally, this holds up). I'd slap a few more statistics down about the general population's rate of abuse if this documentary were about your common American city. It looks instead at a much more toxic environment with massively inflated numbers of sexual abuse victims: the United States military. We're recounted the tales of several abuse victims, mostly women, as they discuss their experiences in the Navy, the Coast Card, the Army, the Air Force, you name it. Their stories are all incredibly similar: they come to proudly serve their country, work hard to prove they can work alongside the guys, form a strong bond of trust with their teammates, and quickly learn just how little that trust means to a few predatory men. Most end their service with a few of the following: severe injuries from the attack, pregnancies, STDs, convictions of adultery, an inability to form close bonds ever again, and of course severe PTSD. Many, if not all, attempt suicide and struggle with lifelong depression and anxiety. We're taken through in-depth accounts of several victims and the stark differences between their lives before and after their service. The high rate of sexual assault within the military is not surprising, given the culture of hyper-masculinity necessitated for war. What IS surprising is how little military officials and higher-ups do to aid victims and punish perpetrators. The film explores the complex hierarchy struggles that allow for this abuse of power (many of the rapists are commanding officers) and the lack of support given to victims after the fact. Injuries attained from other servicemen are not covered by military health care or subsidies, for instance. So these people are violently assaulted, causticly dismissed when they ask for help, watch the perpetrators walk free to repeat offend, given no honorable discharge when they leave, and not even given coverage for their mental and physical health costs. The film allows for no confusion about the stance the military representatives take on sexual assault: dismissiveness. Interviews with committee members utilized in the film reveal how the logic of their inaction is built on old, well-liked lies. It does end on a positive note: people are beginning to take action, largely because of the attention this documentary has gotten. Steps are very slowly being taken to protect the people who protect us.

¨There is a right way, a wrong way, and the Army way.¨Kirby Dick (This Film Is Not Yet Rated and Twist of Faith) directs yet another powerful and instrumental documentary that we hope will serve to change the policies towards the way the military is dealing with its sexual harassment and rape cases. This is something that requires immediate change and Dick does a terrific job of channeling that emotional anger through his interviews. He interviews several male and female ex military members who share their testimony of how they were sexually harassed and in many cases raped during their service. There are some very emotional and horrifying testimonies of what these people had to go through. They didn't get the battle scars from fighting abroad and protecting their country, they got them from within, from one of their own, and from the very people they considered their brothers and sisters. What is even worse wasn't that these people were simply raped, but that they were completely ignored by the officials who were in charge of overseeing their cases. The repercussions over rape reports are even worse than the act itself. The testimonies aren't just emotional; they are completely infuriating because these people still have to undergo through the pain and injuries suffered during that time without receiving any help from the people in charge. It's like they want to sweep everything under the rug, ignore their complaints, and protect the sexual predators that will (and probably have already) strike again. The testimonies aren't all recent, we have some that took place several decades ago which proves that no one is really dealing with the situation or taking them seriously. This documentary left me sad, angry, and horrified at the way these people are being treated. This is one of those documentaries that you hope produce immediate change and hopefully the government will begin taking action. The documentary begins with footage of some cheesy military propaganda searching for new recruits. We then begin to hear several testimonies from ex military members ranging from the Army, to the Navy, to the Coast Guard, to the Marine Corps. They each share how excited they were to enter the military and serve their country, but what began with such high idealism ended up being a nightmare. Their hard work and high hopes were crashed when they were sexually assaulted and raped by other officers and in some cases officials. These people found it difficult to file a report because the people in charge of prosecuting them were usually friends of the assailant. No action was taken to defend the victims, on the other hand they were encouraged to cover it up and forget anything ever happened. They tried to blame them instead of finding fault in the predator. One of the most powerful testimonies comes from Kori and her husband Rob McDonald whose life we follow over a course of several months. Kori shares her testimony of how she was abused and raped. She was also hit in the face so hard that her jaw was broken. She is denied any military assistance and her sex offender continues to work in the military as if nothing ever happened. Kirby then shares some astonishing statistics by claiming that over 20% of female veterans were sexually assaulted while serving. This represents about half a million female veterans. How is this possible? The answer is pretty simple considering these sex offenders get away with their crime easily working in enclosed and controlled areas. The number of veterans who suffer PTSD due to sexual abuse is even higher than those who suffer that disorder from being in combat. All this information was really eye-opening and astonishing.This documentary will leave you infuriated at the way these veterans are being treated simply because they have decided to share their experience and are trying to make their voice heard so some change comes in the way the military handles these cases and prosecutions. There are several emotional testimonies and in most cases these people have not found justice as no assistance has been given to them. There seems to be this wall of silence which only protects the guilty. We see several claims of military officials over the years claiming that they will take action and have zero tolerance, but nothing changes and the sexual harassment cases continue to pile up and investigations close. There is just too much compliance and covering up going on. The victims can't be punished anymore. There seems to be some abuse of power going on from the very people who are supposed to serve and protect. For those interested in more information about this documentary you can visit their website Notinvisible.com. I hope this documentary serves to open our eyes and force a change in the way prosecutions are being handled. This is a documentary we all need to see and share with others, especially if you or a loved one is thinking of joining the military. http://estebueno10.blogspot.com/

"We are always told the armed forces will be our protection but this film shows that these people who protect us need as much probably even more protection then us from these evil people who never get punished"The Air Force, Army and Navy are created in order to defend and protect a nation but the men who run these organisations are very corrupt especially when it comes to reports from women and sometimes men who say they were rapped. The film focus's in on specific women/men who have reported rape but there are many more reported as the film does say to inform the viewer that there are some horrible men out there who never take responsibility for their actions.There are always two sides to every story I always say and this film presents us with the victim side of the story which most of the time is never believed and in some of these cases the accusation should almost be believed but is not. The film does present the side of the victim only because that is the aim of the film, they want us to feel sympathy towards these victims making the sexual assaulter's almost pure evil which in some of these cases they should be called. The film does speak to some high ranking people who see the justice system of the armed forces as being not as good as it could be especially when dealing with some of these cases. I always feel sympathy towards women who have been raped and it was hard to watch because I believed nearly every accusation because women would never want to lie about getting assaulted.The main victims in the film are the ones that I believed the most because they seemed very shaken by the act. Kori Cioca seemed to start and end the story of the film as we saw her struggle with her injury but also have problems at home with her husband it seemed. Also i felt sorry for her because of how her story seemed too detail to be untrue which made me really want that person responsible for her assault to get charged somehow. All the stories were hard to hear and the film was smart to not just focus on women's problems but also in small scenes with men who were assaulted.The film was great in showing us the inner war of these organisations and how more needs to be done when fixing the many problems that there are.MOVIE GRADE: B

Rape in the military is about as thorny and intractable a problem as deciding whether to go to mid-east war or not. The Invisible War solidly makes the argument that the military judicial process for rape is deeply flawed, if only because commanders are given the absolute right and power to determine how the accusations are handled.Think about it: the commander could be the assailant or a friend and can dismiss a case with little recourse for the aggrieved soldier. This documentary hammers home both statistically and in practice how frustrating the process can be, sometimes leading to suicide. A recent court decision that rape is an "occupational hazard" doesn't help anything.At the least, husbands and wives become tense or split; rarely is a marriage unaffected by the rape. For singles, the sympathy is not overwhelming, and without a support group, it is lonely out there to take on the chain of command. In a macho world where team attitude is high priority, rape allegations are not welcomed, especially if the rapist is the commanding officer.As I find in many documentaries, only one side is examined (Michael Moore being the leading exponent of the lopsided argument). In the case of The Invisible War, we are well served with victims who get no satisfaction, but we don't experience fully the case where the accused is found to have been wronged by the accuser. However, the doc does an effective job with the stories of women who accused but rarely gained a conviction.The percentage of adjudicated cases where the accused is found guilty is small. Given the thousands of allegations, that number seems too small. At any rate, after seeing this documentary, Secretary of Defense made a bold decision that confirms the efficacy of a well-made documentary.