Directed by Julie Lunde Lillesæter, three Austin women join a lawsuit with others arguing rape goes unprosecuted. Despite setbacks, they persevere to hold law enforcement accountable for inaction and catalyse change.
You don’t have to look very far to see how the US government and police forces consistently undermine women and make them fight and claw for what should be basic rights. An Army of Women is a powerful example of not just the misogynistic practices but how persistent, vocal action can help to change them. Progress is hard work, it rarely comes about without a group of committed, relentless hands behind it, like the ones we see here.
A big part of why the audience can feel how impactful the work of this group of women is, is the style that Julie Lunde Lillesæter takes. It doesn’t put its primary focus on the movement, or the issue, it’s focused on these women and their stories. That’s ultimately what matters with this journey, and it captures the larger picture and impact through these personal, vulnerable and heart-breaking stories. You can clearly see what it would mean to make these changes, to safeguard the futures of other potential survivors, through the unfiltered emotion of these impassioned, brave subjects.
A lot of the power of An Army of Women comes from their almost unbelievable persistence. These women are having to repeatedly relive and tell of the most horrific moments in their lives, some for over a decade, in order to be heard and to cement the importance of what they’re trying to achieve. You can easily imagine and understand how a woman in that position would give up, it would be too much and yet they persist. They don’t do it out of revenge, they do it to protect other women, in hopes that they don’t have to go through that same trauma.
An Army of Women is a powerful portrait to do justice to a strong, brave and unrelenting group of women. Julie Lunde Lillesæter does a great job of capturing what this lawsuit means to both to these women and in the bigger picture. Their sheer refusal to give up is inspiring, and it’s even more compelling in that Lillesæter takes the time to get to know these women. To look at them as individuals as well as, as a group, and their mission. It’s a distressing topic that has to be handled with sensitivity and compassion and Lillesæterdoes exactly that.
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