Hunting Ground, The (2015)
Matt Boiselle
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Starring Kirby Dick, Amy Ziering, Amy Herdy
Directed by Kirby Dick
We here at Dread Central normally are taking on reviews of titles that consist of 95 percent horror – the majority of these films are designed to scare you, to make you look over your shoulder at night, and fill you with that uncertain sense of fear and trepidation, and once in a while there will come a film that takes a topic that chills you to the bone without any specific visual, and that’s where The Hunting Ground has succeeded.
This particular documentary piece focuses on the overwhelming amount of date-rapes and sexual assaults that occur on college campuses across the United States, and the subsequential cover-up of these crimes by faculty and administrators. Director Kirby Dick follows up his last project, The Invisible War, which dealt with the same crimes that were occurring in the military, and brings the camera crews to the institutes of higher education, and the complete ignorance towards the claims in both fields is equally distressing and eye-opening at the same time. Taking dozens of interviews from different colleges across the country, Dick and Amy Ziering pinpoint the majority of the absorption on two students in general: Annie Clark and Andrea Pino, a couple of former students that attended North Carolina University that were raped and forced to hear their cries go unnoticed – regardless of what you may think, these stories are the stuff that brings all those little hairs on your neck to attention.
Fed up with the lack of concern for their avowals, the two girls decided to take their words to the highest tier, filing a Title IX complaint against the school, and spearheading a national progressive front that brought their horrific accusations to light – powerful stuff, indeed. The interviews are tough to listen to, and the tears will begin to run in rivulets – the strength that these women possess to just allow a camera to be shoved in their faces along with an interviewer asking questions that will drum up some fairly painful memories is colossal – putting faces to these appalling anecdotes serves a useful purpose. Let me reiterate – these are not actresses, these are true-life sufferers of heinous undertakings and their stories are real and not scripted.
One victim in particular to speak publicly is Erica Kinsman, who accused then Florida State quarterback James Winston of not only raping her, but multiple other women, and then was basically run out of town after her declarations were made public, and some disturbing footage is shown of some FSU fans cheering after “the attention whore” was exiled from Tallahassee – sad, yet true.
Overall, The Hunting Ground is aptly titled and makes its presence known as a film that is clearly trying to grab viewers and pry their eyes open to the plight of the victimized. While very tough to sit through completely, it’s a movie that should be seen and discussed thoroughly.
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Film
Categorized:Reviews
