This topic is like any other of its kind when it comes to violence, wherever and against whoever it is: awful. In 2004, Amnesty International launched its global Stop Violence Against Women Campaign and last week Amnesty International France released a short ‘punchy‘ movie (02:30) directed by Olivier Dahan (La Môme/La Vie en Rose) starring Didier Bourdon, Clotilde Courau and Claude Perron. This movie instantly caught my attention.
It is inspired by 1920’s silent movies (I mentioned this period in this post), no words but ‘ordinary‘ domestic violent gestures filmed in a Chaplin-style. The contrast between the comical directing and the tragedy of the situation is appalling of cruelty. And it is increasing until someone finally break the silence. Like I said in one of my post about Darfur: Silence kills, make some noise and keep your voice loud. It is applicable to all kind of violence, all injustices, everywhere in the world. We are not allowed to look away.
Below, an extract of Amnesty International’s campaign introduction, followed by the short movie.
Violence against women is a human rights scandal. At least one out of every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime. In Europe, domestic violence is the major cause of death and disability for women aged 16 to 44. In the United States, a woman is raped every 6 minutes; a woman is battered every 15 seconds. Rape of women is widespread in armed conflicts such as Colombia and Darfur. Trafficking of women has become a global phenomenon where victims are sexually exploited, forced into labor and subjected to abuse. Murders of women in Guatemala, Russia, India, and other countries often go uninvestigated and unpunished. The experience or threat of violence affects the lives of women everywhere, cutting across boundaries of wealth, race and culture. In the home and in the community, in times of war and peace, women are beaten, raped, mutilated, and killed with impunity. (read more here).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyoQbNwTSjc
