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Legal documentary An army of women Does not present an army in terms of figures, just a handful of complainants in a trial; But these few come to represent a multitude without speaking. The Norwegian director Julie Lunde Lilles lead follows a collective appeal originally brought to Austin, Texas, in 2018 by a group of women protesting against their treatment as victims of rape and sexual assault. They accused the Austin police service and the office of a local district prosecutor not to investigate and adequately pursue these cases.
What emerges is a model of misogynist neglect and prejudice. The progress of the case comes in adjustments; Bitter disappointments followed by the renewals of hope. Lillesæter, who also shot the film, shapes all this in a coherent story, without ironing things in the structure of the artificial “real crime” which affects so many current documentaries. She focuses on some of the complainants, including Marina Garrett, a young woman whose charismatic boil denies the extent to which her traumatic experience has affected her life. Another is an artist who prefers, throughout the procedure, to use the pseudonym “Amy Smith”, and who channels his legal frustrations by cutting the documents of the Court and panting him in paintings. The hashtag #foramysmith becomes a rallying flag; When, at the end of the film, “Amy” finally emerges under his real name, it is a moment of cathartic significance.
Other moments bring narrative light and shadow, including the marriage of tenacious lawyers Jenny Ecklund and Elizabeth Myers, who fell in love while working on the case: sometimes real life offers these gifts that you would sniff in a Hollywood drama. The film is clear and involving, but at 84 minutes, it seems a little too condensed to enter its subject as deeply as it deserves. Nevertheless, a revelation of the eyes.
★★★ ☆☆
In British cinemas of April 25
