THE INVISIBLE WAR

THE INVISIBLE WAR is an extremely important documentary film that every American should see. It covers the difficult topic of sexual assault in the military. The film does an excellent job of exploring the history of women in the military and previous scandals such as Tailhook, while showing the horrifying statistics for women in the last decade. It's really shocking just how bad it is. And the government spokespeople represented in the film do not seem to make anything better.

The film is so good at explaining its case that after the Secretary of Defense saw the film, he changed the long-standing policies of the military to take decisions on prosecution out of the hands of the commanding officers, who had been notoriously protective of their own men. Since then, legislation has been passed which continues the move forward to allow victims a fair chance to be heard.

The film is extremely well-edited by my former classmate Doug Blush and my former student Derek Boonstra. The opening of the film is particularly effective. If there were any weakness in the film, it is that they interview a couple of men who were victims of sexual assault, even though that is very common as well. I'm guessing it was difficult to find men who were willing to go on camera.

The film has won numerous accolades, including the IDA award for best documentary feature and is on the short list for the Oscar. Please see this film.