There are many types of documentaries at a film festival.
There are documentaries about interesting stories, interesting people, a particular place in time and even particular places.
There are also documentaries about stories that need to be told.
The Invisible War is one of these stories.
Directed by famed documentary maker Kirby Dick, The Invisible War is a grim look at what should be considered an epidemic in the United States – the absurdly high rates of sexual assault in the military. The numbers are startling (1 in 5 female veterans reported sexual assault) and as the film painstakingly points out through a series of talking heads, it’s an issue that reaches across all branches of military and has been an issue for decades.The impact these assaults have on their victims is devastating. It is one of those documentaries that you watch and are constantly thinking WTF.
The Invisible War is a focused documentary that does a great job pointing out a problem and identifying a potential solution. I thought that Kirby Dick did a great job of resisting the temptation to pull it back a little and covering a lot more angles (and perhaps lessening the impact of the subject at hand). The result is a shocking look at one of the most powerful organizations in the world.