Catching up with: "Invisible War" 2012 Documentary

If there is one documentary which made an immediate impact it is The Invisible War (now streaming on Netflix) about the rampant and unpunished culture of sexual assault and rape in the U.S. military.



After watching it, senators and Pentagon officials have all been quoted as saying they were immediately spun to action, to try and reverse this ugly reality. Just yesterday, President Obama released a statement calling on military leaders to clean up the "scourge" within one year. Since the film came out, a new defense bill was drafted prohibiting commanders from ignoring accusations or overturning convictions.

The film itself is a series of tightly-packed and heart-wrenching testimonies by victims from all branches of the U.S. military, from small town Coast Guard recruits to the elite Marine Barracks in Washington.

With such an investigation into some of the deepest, darkest corners of the U.S. military there has of course been very negative criticism of the film. But did a judge as the film states really dismiss a lawsuit by the film's many protagonist victims saying that "rape is an occupational hazard of serving in the U.S. military?"