We've known for years that murderers have mothers. Now it is brought to our attention that rapists are often somebody's best friends. Whilst generally speaking mothers do not have to justify their loyalties, what is expected from friends is a serious analysis of the culprit, culminating in the termination of any relationship. Often with good intentions, analyses of the victims tend to be left out, leaving one to wonder how it can be possible to accurately examine the former without looking at the latter. In January '97, Queer View visited the Sundance Independent Film Festival and the European Film Market in the following month, and now evaluates the way the cinema looks at this subject: it varies.

Although there is great opportunity, this is a thankless area. The film makers have no choice but to do a balancing act. Directors have to be very careful so that the average audience will not be turned off. If the film starts off looking like a radical feminist tirade, it will have been made in vain – at least, the target audience will think no more on the subject. Audiences who are already aware of the subject matter will not be interested if people who are as yet untouched by abuse are handled with kid gloves. Failing to take a stand is then seen as an insult. And so also does Queer View take these films to task.

A weakness of these films could be predictability. Anyone who does not want to appear totally reactionary would end the film with an enlightened character who finally understands what was done to the victim, and that this must not be tolerated amongst friends. Surprise, surprise, none of the three films fulfil this requirement 100%.

In Blackrock, Jared, the protagonist and the rapists' best friend, actually witnessed the act, and learns the rest from another culprit in person. The extent of the victim's suffering should be absolutely clear – she dies as a result. Throughout the film Jared remains silent come what may: his friendship is more important. In the end he goes crazy, but that is just a result of the situation, and others just happen to be there. Whether Jared's character was able to grow is debatable.

Desolation Angels deliberately avoids taking up any position, as the audience should decide for themselves. The film is certainly desolate enough to at least provoke debate among the members of the audience. At some point Nick, the lover of Mary, who was raped by his friend Sidney, does accept the fact that it happened, but continually displays an inability to interpret it correctly, putting some of the blame on Mary. At the end of the day, he sees the crime as an attack on himself which must be avenged, and pays no attention to his girlfriend. At the end, she does at least have enough and pack her things. Which some feminist members of the audience will have done a long time before this scene.

In Slaves to the Underground, however, Jimmy and another friend are plagued with the dawning realisation that all that about the rape really happened that way. Jimmy stands by Shelly, but probably only because a relationship with her would otherwise not be possible. Only when the rapist strikes again and everything is made "official" do the two friends decide to belatedly believe Shelly. But that is all, they are not all that interested in Shelly's mental well-being. Luckily the film is, and the main character is actually Shelly, the survivor, herself. Slaves to the Underground is more concerned with how a woman deals with her rapist's friends than the other way around.

But none of the films succeeds in bringing closer to home the diabolical structure of a rape with all its complex but catastrophic consequences for the victim, and one has to ask if this is at all possible when the film spends time away from the survivor and concentrates on other characters, sometimes almost exclusively. Just because friends of a rapist also have to face facts, does not mean that the best way for a film is to have a protagonist in their shoes. Anyone who has seen The Girl of Silence will not need to see another that examines loyalties.

ki, Park City / Berlin
translation: andrew
picture 1: Blackrock
picture 2: Desolation Angels
picture 3: Slaves to the Underground, © Overseas Filmgroup 1996 / credit: Chris Helcermanas-Benge