Dearbhla Glynn's new movie looks at both sides of the story in the Congo
APE is a dominant feature of life in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which was dubbed âthe rape capital of the worldâ by a UN official in 2009. Horrific statistics suggest a woman is raped in the country every 48 seconds. Amidst the social decay caused by a war that started in 1996 civilians rape, pastors rape, policemen rape but, most of all, soldiers rape.
Cork filmmaker Dearbhla Glynn has taken the original step to hear their stories â the perpetratorsâ stories, from child soldiers to commanders â as well as victimsâ tales in her documentary, Congo Ongoing, part of the upcoming IFI Documentary Festival.
âIâd been hearing and reading about how there is this really high rate of rape happening in the Congo but I felt there was no research or dialogue from the men,â she says. âI wondered what is going on with these men. Iâd seen clips from films but they just depicted the men as being these âmonstersâ. That was the general consensus.
âItâs awful itâs happening but surely these men are part of the cycle of violence. What has happened to them in the first place that they are doing this? Thatâs why I wanted to go to the Congo and talk to the men.â
When Glynn interviewed them a lot said they didnât know they were doing anything wrong at the time. âI donât think they were lying. Some people would say, âOh, youâre lying. On some level you must know youâre doing something wrong.â But these men have often been child soldiers. Theyâve grown up without families. There is such a high level of displacement in the Congo.
âWe donât know what that is like in our culture â to grow up in the context of war without any family guidance or boundaries. Society is so broken down. You have these young boys learning to rape or being forced to rape. Then they continue on and it becomes normalised. A lot of them said that they were âdead alreadyâ. They felt that they had no value, no worth. They didnât know where their family was, that they were living in such hell that they did what they could to survive.
âItâs not excusing their behaviour. In a strange way I felt some empathy for them â which is really odd and horrible â because sometimes you feel that these people are just kids and now theyâve grown into men. Then I talk to the women afterwards and I feel such anger towards the men as well because what they are doing is really awful.â
Some of the soldiers are told by witchdoctors that if they rape a nine-year-old virgin, they will be protected from gunshots.
One of the rapists Glynn interviewed was in prison in the city of Goma. He fought in the jungle with a Mai Mai militia group. By the age of 12, he had already raped two girls, probably aged about nine and 10 years of age. He couldnât count how many girls heâd raped, 15 at least.
âI did it because of my suffering,â he said. âI had no job and no money. When I farmed, thieves stole my harvest so I joined the rebels and I raped those girls.â
The documentaryâs interviews with Congolese women who have been raped are deeply disturbing. Their husbands have rejected many of them. One victim was 60 years of age. Another 12-year-old girl was kidnapped and used as a sex slave for two years.
One teenager recounts how her brother was shot dead because he was shouting in distress while she was being raped. After the rape, she tested positive for HIV. âI want to take a knife and kill myself,â she said.
Glynn travelled around the DRC by motorbike with local guides. She built up a rapport with her interviewees â conspicuous as the Western woman in their midst â before getting them to speak to camera. She says it has been a difficult headspace to live in. The film has been three years in the making. âIâm so relieved to have the film finished because itâs being going on for so long. Iâll always remember some of those people and wonder where are they now. Ethically, sometimes I question what Iâve been doing.â
When she returned from the DRC, Glynn felt like she was starting to burn out. âI didnât feel I was well. Iâve seen people who are burnt out â having just come back from Liberia where Iâm doing a documentary on ebola â and they donât even know it. I just try and look after myself. I do yoga. I donât drink much in Africa. I stay healthy. I stay grounded.
âWhen I watched the rough cut of the Congo film, I felt real anxiety after watching it. I didnât sleep at all that night. I donât know if it was bringing up some PTSD that I experienced over there. I definitely need a break from that kind of work for a while, but itâs hard. Once you keep going there, you really know whatâs happening. You meet people and you want to try and raise awareness.â
This Saturday @ 3pm a post-screening Q&A with Dearbhla Glynn, director of WAR IN EASTERN CONGO http://t.co/ajCJvz5fVT pic.twitter.com/tj46b82LAk
— Irish Film Institute (@IFI_Dub) September 22, 2015
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