The Invisible War

Kirby Dick, the muckraking director of such provocative documentaries as Private Practices: The Story of a Sex Surrogate (1986), Sick, The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist (1997), Twist of Faith (2005) and This Film is Not Yet Rated (2006) has made his best film yet with this account of sexual abuse in the US military and the astonishing lack of interest in doing anything about it. In the film, Dick forgoes his usual blend of cinema-verite and humorous media montages to focus his lens on many women and men who have lived through not only the violation of being raped but also the ongoing humiliation, neglect and downright abuse of the vary organization they gave their lives and trust to.

Dick and co-producer Amy Ziering have gathered an astonishing number of interviews with former members of all branches of the Armed Forces and active-duty spokespeople for the military and created a shocking representation of the various outrages that have been perpetrated for so many decades. All the statistics and facts used in the film are from military and government studies, which make them virtually unimpeachable.  When these facts are combined with the many personal stories told in the film the effect on an audience is one of shear outrage. This is yet another example of a filmmaker doing the work that journalists and politicians should be doing, but aren’t. Yet, the film is made with such restraint that I would not be surprised if it has a real effect on an issue where lawsuits and congressional hearings have done nothing.

The filmmakers focus on a few individuals and their families in a way that personalizes their interviews, but this technique never feels inauthentic, patronizing or unnecessarily sentimental. Indeed the film may feature the best blend of personal footage, interviews and statistics I’ve seen in this type of documentary. Dick chronicles the various major sex scandals that each branch of the service has faced over the past decades, the meaningless responses from congress and total non-action of the military in doing anything about it (apart from blaming the victims). The film also very cleverly explains what the real problem is, how wrongheaded most attempts to deal with it have been, and how a few well-informed changes would fix so much of it.

This is an uncompromising and upsetting film, but not one that is too difficult to watch and certainly one I would recommend anyone thinking of joining the military should see. In fact, I think everyone should see it as the film drives home how much more we as a society need to pay attention to the men and women who safeguard our country.