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The powerful film “The Greatest Silence: The Rape of Congo” ought not to lead to despair or fatalism … it should make you ask”what can we do to help?” Join a discussion following the film with people who want to do something, and people who know how.

When:

Saturday September 29 after the 3:00 PM showing of “The Greatest Silence: The Rape of Congo,” or Sunday September 30 after the 7:00 PM showing of “The Greatest Silence” stay for a discussion of what we can do to help address the problems in Congo

Where: Key Cinemas 4044 S. Keystone Ave. Indianapolis, IN 46227

Emmy Award winning producer/director Lisa F. Jackson spent 2006 in the war zones of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) documenting the tragic plight of women and girls in that country’s most intractable conflict. She was afforded privileged access to not only the grotesque realities of life in Congo (including interviews with self-confessed rapists) but also to examples of resiliency, resistance, courage and grace. Jackson was herself gang raped in 1976 and shared her experience with the survivors she interviewed. These women in turn recount their stories with an honesty and immediacy pulverizing in its intimacy and detail. The film is a journey into a literal heart of darkness, a search for survivors who pay witness to their own experiences, and break the silence. Background, context and opinion are provided by interviews with peacekeepers, politicians, activists, doctors and priests. But above all there is the wrenching testimony from dozens of survivors of sexual violence who recount stories of chilling barbarity. This film gives them dignity, a face and a voice that will finally break the silence that surrounds their plight.

Provocate contributor Gwyneth Sutherlin was one of the first to view this powerful film. She says that without violent images and relying primarily on personal narrative to tell its story, “The Greatest Silence” illustrates how the scale of rape in the the Democratic Republic of Congo undermines social structures built on the roles of women. The various military groups perpetrating these crimes are fully aware that this subversive tactic goes unnoticed and unpunished in a way that killing does not. They use the instability they create to pillage the country’s resources. Most importantly, the reason rape has proved to be such an effective weapon is that it relies on the silence of its victims and the public. It derives its power from remaining a taboo and a stigma. It devastates the next generation, both the children produced from rape and those who witness it, prolonging the damage to the nation. All acts of war are inherently atrocious. Is the film too intense for students? No way, says Gwyneth: how can students study the horror of the holocaust, see images of torture at Abu Gharib on the front page, and even pay to watch mass slaughter dramatized in movie theaters and still feel uncomfortable discussing rape?

Know before you go … “Women for Women International” gives this summary of the reality in Congo:

Decades of conflict have profoundly affected Congolese women, in what is considered the deadliest war in documented African history. Throughout the years of fighting, Congo’s economy has been decimated, infrastructure has been destroyed and violence has driven out investment and business. More than two million people are internally displaced. Sixteen million people are suffering from a critical shortage of food, and thousands have already died from a lack of food, clean water, medicine and shelter. An estimated 3.3 million people have died as a result of the conflict since 1998, and tens of thousands of women have been raped. Many women have also lost male relatives to the war and are now left to support their families.

For more disheartening detail, see the article: UN EXPERT ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN EXPRESSES SERIOUS CONCERNS FOLLOWING VISIT TO DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO.

For more informaiton about Congo, go to the Provocate Congo background page; for more information about the vulnerability women in conflicts in Congo and elsewhere, see some of the links provided to Provocate by filmmaker Lisa Jackson.

If you think discussing ways we can help Africa is interesting, learning more about IU Med School’s remarkable partnership with Moi University in Kenya is a good start. Hear program director Joe Mamlin talk October 18 and October 23, or attend the program’s gala celebration October 13. Ambassadors for Children and other local programs offer opportunities for “volun-tourism,” combining vacation with working to solve problems. Learn more October 13 and November 15.

To learn more about the films and discussions, contact John Clark at john@sipr.org or 317-472-9666

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 11th, 2007 at 2:55 am and is filed under Events, Women, Violence, Crossing borders, Race, Law & justice, Journalism, Human and civil rights, Film, Africa, Poverty, Kids, Provocate Event. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.