The Hunting Ground

Kirby Dick's latest documentary, The Hunting Ground, is destined to be one of the most important documentaries of the year; I'd be seriously surprised if a Best Documentary Feature nomination at next year's Oscar wasn't all but confirmed at this point. Continuing off of Dick's last film, The Invisible War, which looked intimately at the military's long list of sexual assault cases, The Hunting Ground turns the camera just a little bit to in the other direction to focus on the rape epidemic on America's college campuses.

Before I could even set foot on campus last year, at my private liberal arts school, for my first year of college, I was required to take an online course in sexual conduct and sexual violence. The entire course took roughly an hour and a half (and, no, you couldn't skip through the videos and, yes, you were pervasively quizzed), and even to this day, it's rare I walk around campus for a full day and don't hear something about a campaign to raise awareness about sexual violence or how my college boasts a zero tolerance policy. I have no doubt it still occurs, but as far as I've seen from my school, I think we've got it handled a lot better than many other schools (also because we're not so concerned about our athletics empire, being a school with a Division III football team).

Dick explores how many top tier schools, such as Harvard Law School, Yale, University of North Carolina, Duke, and others have had well over one-hundred cases of sexual assault reported in the span of a decade, but how just about less than two percent (sometimes none) get any form of punishment, be it suspension or expulsion. We learn from clinical psychologists, attorneys, and other professionals that colleges, in order to protect their brand because they are, indeed, selling a product, have made it gravely difficult for sexual assault victims to make their case heard. Colleges also discourage victims from going to law enforcement with their cases, for that increases the chances of the public learning about the assault, which can't be risked in order for the school to protect their brand.

Between a rock and a hard place, with nobody taking them seriously and school administrators asking them morally bankrupt questions like, "how many times did you say 'no?'," "how much did you have to drink?," and even one administrator equating rape to a football game, asking the victim "what would you have done differently?," Andrea Pino and Annie Clark, two rape victims from University of North Carolina, decided to fire back and seek justice. They wound up filing a Title IX complaint against their school, working around the clock by reading court cases, examining past Title IX lawsuits, accusing them of perpetuating an unsafe environment by letting the rapists walk free without any kind of punishment whatsoever. Pino and Clark even wound up taking their movement across the United States, forming an online support group for victims, unifying those who had not only been exploited but unsupported by schools that were allowing this to happen.

One of The Hunting Ground's biggest accomplishments as a film is the fact that it works to expose the great lie and deception of college fraternities. Fraternities, for decades, have been nothing other than a haven for raping, hazing, drugging, and horrible mistreatment of women. Consider Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE), one of America's largest domestic fraternities, which is known as "Sexual Assault Expected" by numerous people on university campuses; also consider the fact that this is the same fraternity that, during welcome week, displayed lovely banners on their front lawns thanking parents for dropping off their daughters and informing them that they would teach them things that high school couldn't. These places have been cult-like hellholes for many years and Dick and Ziering don't sugarcoat the vile and disgusting behavior that runs rampant at these places.

The Hunting Ground doesn't stop there either; it works to be an all-encompassing documentary by including male victims of sexual assault, as well as showing how athletes that commit sexual assault are the ones that most frequently come out unscathed. We are acquainted with Erica Kinsman, who you may remember as the Tallahassee college student that came forth saying that Florida State Seminoles star freshman Quarterback Jameis Winston had raped her at a party. Despite going to the administration shortly after it happened, Kinsman found her case lying dormant for far too long, until it finally appeared in the headlines right as Jameis Winston was questionably going to go the NFL and almost a lock to win the Heisman Trophy as a freshman, making it appear that she simply wanted to smear his name. We see the exhaustive process of Winston and the Florida State administration denying comment and failing to come thru during hearings, resulting in a dizzying legal battle that eventually amounted to, you guessed it, nothing.

This is another seriously commendable documentary by Kirby Dick, who's camera always seems to go where few or no cameras are at the present time. He's one of documentary's greatest muckrakers now, making documentaries on the epidemic of sexual assault in places where it's far too easy to cover it up, in addition to other problematic industries like the film ratings board and the Catholic Church. The Hunting Ground is a terrific documentary because, not only does it shed light on this important issue, but it explores the hypocrisy in which colleges handle the issue, drowning out negativity by asserting that schools take this matter "very seriously," in addition to exploring the problem from a variety of different angles. Where it could cop out and focus solely on emotions and emotional manipulation, it forces you to learn, confront, and at the end of it all, make an attempt to act.

It is such a relief to see a documentary about campus rape. Finally, this epidemic is out in the open and getting the publicity it needs. I am a survivor of sexual violence and I can tell you that rape on campus and rape in general is WAY more common than most people assume it is. For everyone discounting the 1 in 4 statistic, look at the raw data from rape crisis hotlines. They get THOUSANDS of calls per day. These are not all from pathological liars or women who woke up with regret after having sex with someone. In fact, only 2 - 10% of rape allegations are false, and there are false allegations for EVERY crime. However, in our American culture, we are much more likely to be skeptical about rape allegations, which is unfortunate because when a victim brings an allegation forward or even just tells a friend, being disbelieved re-traumatizes the person.

Someone else on here wrote that many women in their family have gone to college and none have been raped -- but that's not how statistics work. This person needs to take a statistics class. You can't choose any group of 4 women and expect to have exactly 1 rape survivor among them - depending on the particular group, none could be survivors or all four could be survivors.

I am so glad that many universities are being called out for their improper handling of sexual assault allegations. For those of you who believe universities shouldn't be involved and this should only be a police matter, in my opinion, this isn't practical. Even if a rape report turned into an investigation, an arrest, and a future prosecution, this takes YEARS. In the meantime, both the victim and the alleged rapist exist on the same university campus, perhaps even in the same dorm room! As a survivor I can tell you this would be extremely traumatizing and it would affect the victim's ability to continue their education. This violates Title IX, which is "a law passed in 1972 that requires gender equity for boys and girls in every educational program that receives federal funding." Also, universities have sanctions for misconduct, which should also include sexual misconduct. Not all victims want to go to the police or are in a position to do so, and one of the worst things you can do to a victim of sexual assault is force them to go to the police (or not). They have already had their choices taken away from them when their own body was violated, so please don't take away their choice on how to handle their assault away from them as well.

The Hunting Ground is a really good documentary, that reveals an epidemic in America, one that is still argued about and ignored. The film is often powerful, often real, and often beyond belief. The Hunting Ground is good, but not great because it tells a crucial and relevant story, it handles its subject matter respectfully and powerfully, but it contains a few plot lines that feel detached from the story being told. That being said the film is still worth watching, especially if you're about to enter college, or have children about to enter college.

The Hunting Ground tells the important story of how college's around the country are participating in an unbelievable rape culture in order to keep their images clean. The film begins with, and mostly follows Andrea Pino and Annie Clark on their journey to fight rape culture. The film is powerful, and at times scary because it often shows examples of this, that only help to showcase its message, and put the audience in perspective of what we allow to happen right under our noses.

The film uses many interviews, which are at times hard to watch, but are also important for understanding the problem director, Kirby Dick, is trying to show. The film's tone is one that is tense, and unsettling, sometimes even feeling like a horror film with its use of music. The film also uses humor to help show the ignorance of our culture, for instance there is a moment in the film when a large group of college men gather together chanting "no means yes, yes means anal!" Many colleges will probably detest this film, as right or wrong the film portrays colleges as the main antagonist, however there is factual basis for why they do this.

The film does have a few flaws, such as it's bias being more obvious or present than it should be. By that I mean the film would have been more powerful, and more engrossing if the audience were shown that the colleges have a reason for being the way they are, they aren't evil organizations. Also some of the interviews, as powerful and relevant as they may be, feel detached from the story of Andrea and Annie, which makes the story seem a little too unfocused. Because of this I also found myself occasionally wondering where the film was going, and when it would end.

In the end Kirby's reasons for having these flaws is understandable, as he's trying to cover a topic too large for one film, especially a film that is only an hour and a half. The stories and interviews in this film are powerful, and the film ambitiously attacks a cultural epidemic that does need to be changed. Dick's message comes at a time when society is even more unstable, and changing hopefully lots of people see movies like this and are inspired to act.

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/1-in-5- college-study-raped_n_7293068.html

I've read 40-50 reviews that state the statistics in this documentary are wrong. Please go to the link I provided above. Huffington Post released an article a few weeks after Hunting Grounds premiered stating the statistics were "inflate". Well, a few months later they had to do this follow up article because low and behold, the statistics WERE (& are) CORRECT. Im glad this documentary is getting people to talk about rape & sexual assault. I was raped by my brothers best friend when I was 13 & he was 18. When i reported it to the police their first question was "What did you do to turn him on?"...Sadly, I am now 28 & if I was to ever get raped again I wouldn't report it. The police treating me like it was my fault was like getting raped all over again. I wouldn't wish that upon my worst enemy... The police wouldn't even talk about charging him with statutory rape, like I said I was 13 years old and he was 2 weeks away from his 19th birthday, so even if I had been okay and wanted to have sex I wasn't old enough to consent. Legally it was rape no matter what. IM SO GLAD, this doc sheds light on a problem that desperately needs to be fixed.

This is an excellent documentary on a very disturbing topic. How disturbing? Well, read the other reviews. The majority of them are by Men's Rights guys waving the red herring flag of ONE case mentioned in the movie. It's the only thing they've got to try and discredit this film. Pretty sad that a bunch of grown men feel they have to crowd onto this site and post sad little rants, clutching their stones because OMG WOMINZ MITE GET RIGHTZ!!!!! Don't pay any attention to them. This is an important film that should be seen by as many people as possible, ESPECIALLY YOUNG PEOPLE. You're better than those panicked little toddlers.