Victim/Suspect – Review
90 Minutes, Rated R
Directed by Nancy Schwartzman
**NOTE: You can read Mark’s review below. Remember, though, you can listen to all our discussions directly over on ACAST. Stay tuned.**
Synopsis:
Victim/Suspect chronicles journalist Rae de Leon’s investigation into a disturbing pattern: young women report sexual assault to the police but instead of the perpetrators being brought to justice, the women are arrested for filing a false report. Working for The Center for Investigative Reporting, de Leon’s exhaustive research uncovers a surprisingly large number of these cases nationwide.
Re-examining law enforcement investigations, de Leon unearths telling recordings of police interviews with victims. Featuring firsthand accounts from numerous young women as well as interviews with police, investigators, and legal experts, Victim/Suspect raises crucial questions about how the criminal justice system views and treats sexual assault victims.
Wow.
Victim/Suspect is a must-see documentary.
More compelling than the fictionalized She Said, Victim/Suspect highlights the systemic problems which lead to accused rapists not only NOT being prosecuted, but which have lead to rape victims themselves being prosecuted.
An examination of how outdated social biases have merged with effective (and necessary)criminal investigative techniques and morphed into an unexpected monster: a methodology which encourages police to encourage victim recantation, which, when paired with legislation criminalizingfalse reporting, results in what most be the most ludicrous of collateral damage: actual victims.
Reliving a trauma by testifying against an assailant is difficult enough, but to coerce a victim into denying their trauma, then punishing them for it it tantamount to secondary abuse.
The film does a good job in explaining why and how police procedures have evolved to garner this result, but identifying the problem is only half the job; we must correct it.
This movie isn’t cinematically “sexy” (best word for the job), but it is damned effective in presenting its premise in a concise and convincing manner. The fact that the film ends with a quietly stunning and impactful legal precedent is encouraging.
I can highly recommend Victim/Suspect.
Victim/Suspect is now playing exclusively on Netflix and features Rae de Leon.
And remember, if the BEST thing you can say about a movie is that it’s “visually stunning,” then they’ve done something wrong.
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