This movie documents the stories of women who have been raped while in military service -- raped by their senior officers and then ejected from the service while their rapists received handslaps (if anything) and went on to promotions. The women were debased, degraded, humiliated and treated abominably in every way by the military. One Marine tried to kill herself because of the shame and degradation she had experienced being raped by her commanding officer and his friend. Her husband, a Marine officer and Harvard/Yale graduate, resigned from service because of his wife's treatment. Both are completely disillusioned and disheartened, knowing the military is not what they thought it was. Several women's stories are given in this movie, which should be seen by all people (men and women) contemplating a military career.
God bless these women for coming forward after years of the harshest treatment one could imagine from the military they entered as trusting souls...and left as demoralized and disillusioned wrecks suffering from PTSD. This documentary exposes the military as the giant cult that it is, just like the Catholic Church, determined to keep quiet what they don't want you to know, but continuing and justifying the abuses under the cover of "protecting the organization." Because of the way the military is set up, with a hierarchy that can never be challenged by the lowly soldiers, just like the Catholic Church, it became a cult despite some of the more well-intentioned members of its hierarchy.
Whenever power becomes absolute, as it is in the military and the Church, there are always going to be sociopaths who will rise to the top and relentlessly exert that power over the underlings. As a whole, we humans have not risen in consciousness to a level where the good of the individuals in the group would be of first consideration and power lust would be unthinkable. As a result of our overall low consciousness, we see everywhere in our society the proliferation of a social/corporate/organizational caste system that rewards the highest rung members and punishes those on the lowest rung. It's what we call "human nature." The only way this will change is by each person's raising his/her own consciousness level. That could take eons, but may be helped along by worldwide disasters (Fukushima radiation, global warming, etc.) that take out large portions of humanity, giving those who remain a hard lesson and a chance to grow together in consciousness.
From one of the online reviews, of which there are many (this one by Daniel Feinberg):
"The Invisible War" begins with a string of recruitment ads wooing women to the armed services through the decades. We're then introduced to a series of women who describe the circumstances -- all positive, whether family tradition, duty or the desire to test their limits -- that brought them into the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marines or the Coast Guard. These are women who chose to make commitments to the military and believed in the cause of defending and fighting for the country.
But then the testimonials begin. One after another, the interview subjects describe how they were sexually assaulted, how their patriotic dreams became nightmares and how the military was unable to keep them safe or, in most cases, to punish the perpetrators.
In one of many damning statistics interspersed throughout the documentary, we're told that 20 percent of all servicewomen were assaulted during their service. Even more upsetting, we're told that more than 80 percent of victims don't report their assaults and that even among the reported incidents only 21 percent go to trial.
As with Dick's Catholic church expose "Twist of Fate," "The Invisible War" is a chronicle of institutional failings in the face of sexual scandal. In this military contest, sexual assault is a crime that carries great stigma in the military, but too often that stigma is turned on the women, who have to make their reports to commanding officers who are sometimes the perpetrators, often friends with the perpetrators and often reticent to weaken their units. It's a culture in which masculinity is prized and boys-will-be-boys attitudes abound, creating circumstances in which a woman allegedly raped by a married colleague can be charged with adultery and in which the accuser is more likely to be forced out of the service after making the accusation than the accused. Dick has dozens of subjects willing to go on-camera in "The Invisible War," which is a remarkable achievement, but the only active duty servicewoman admitting to being assaulted is featured only in silhouette and with her voice modified.
If the only achievement in "The Invisible War" were giving faces and voices and visibility to this invisible conflict, that would be of substantial value. In addition to making the subjects comfortable enough to appear on camera, Dick and fellow producer Amy Ziering got amazing frankness and expertly crafted heartbreaking narratives around several of the subjects, bringing several of the stories together in a crushing climax.
The doc's clear "star" is Kori, a plucky and diminutive Coast Guard veteran whose jaw was damaged in an act of violence that preceded her rape. Because the injury occurred outside of what is considered a conventional military context, Kori is struggling to make the VA pay for the surgery she needs. She's also struggling with PTSD from the incident, while trying to maintain her marriage to Rob, who may be the world's most understanding man, but who's also in over his head here. One sequence of Kori and Rob sharing a couch and fighting off tears while describing their strained relationship is just one of a dozen moments practically guaranteed to reduce viewers to tears.
It's also hard not to be captivated by Myla, a former CID sergeant with her own assault history, or Trina, whose posting in Alaska became a cycle of unpunished druggings and rapes. Dick holds off for a while, but he also acknowledges that men can be victims of military sexual assault, taking care to emphasize that these assaults, which actually outnumber the reported assault cases involving women, have absolutely nothing to do with the inclusion of gays in the military.
None of the perpetrators, alleged or otherwise, are named or featured in "The Invisible War." There are many active military officers who acknowledge the need for change, or at least acknowledge the existence of a problem, who are treated with admiration. The only military figures who are demonized are the deniers, people like Rear Admiral Anthony Kurta or former SAPRO (Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office) director Kaye Whitley. Even if many or most of the subjects admit by the end of the movie that they wouldn't want to see their own daughters ever join up, Dick's agenda isn't anything close to "Women shouldn't be in the military." He's saying that there is a system within the military that needs fixing and the film supports a number of means to make those changes, including law suit, direct interaction with a number of members of Congress and a host of cyber campaigns that will be set in motion by the movie.
I attended the premiere for "The Invisible War" and can report -- entirely separate from my own gut response -- that the US Documentary competition entry plays like gangbusters. "The Invisible War" is a documentary with a chance to make a tangible difference, which is something many films aspire to, but few films ever pull off.
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