If you’re looking for a documentary about courage against all odds, Michele Mitchell (“Haiti: Where Did the Money Go?”) and Nick Louvel’s (“Domino One”) documentary “The Uncondemned” might fit the bill, chronicling the first trial to persecute rape as an international war crime, setting historic legal precedent for prosecution of future war crimes.
The documentary begins as a conventional courtroom drama, following a group of lawyers and activists in the late 1990s at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda who found themselves in charge of the first case of genocide in history. And from there unfolds a story that is far from ordinary. Here’s the official synopsis:
THE UNCONDEMNED is a courtroom drama, turned upside down when three brave women came forward to tell their story. THE UNCONDEMNED is a riveting documentary about an underdog group of lawyers and activists who defied the odds to do what had never been done: prosecute rape as an international war crime. In 1997, the young men and women at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda found themselves inexplicably in charge of the first case of genocide in history. Underfunded, understaffed and overwhelmed, they faced incredible hurdles as they pursued their first case against a small town mayor. Crimes of war and against humanity had not been prosecuted since 1946, and surviving witnesses feared for their lives. And then, based on a last minute revelation, the prosecuting team amended the charge to include rape. Three heroic women would overcome their fears and shame to speak for all those who could not. Secret memos, witness assassinations, setbacks and barriers – THE UNCONDEMNED captures the untold, remarkable story that changed the course of international judicial history.
Reviewed by The Guardian, they describe the film as “[a] heartbreaking story behind the first conviction of rape as a war crime,” and this looks like the compelling account of three women who forever changed the course of international judicial history.
“The Undocumented” will be released in theaters starting Friday, October 21st in NYC and October 28th in L.A.
