"Cry Rape" is one of the earliest television programs that dealt with rape. It took a lot of guts to go there....and it's sad to see how victims were treated back in the day. Hopefully, it's gotten a bit better.
The film begins with a violent rape where a woman is attacked and beaten in her home. He even robs her to boot. Amazingly, when she goes to the police, they are pretty nasty and keep implying it must have been consensual! To make it worse, everyone involved are men--the doctor examining her as well as all the police and detectives. It's really shameful how this poor lady was treated.
Eventually, the police seem to believe the woman....because her story and composite drawing of the rapist matched that of several other recent cases. And, soon after this, another rape occurs...and in this case, her husband is a monster, as he blames her for the rape. Fortunately, she insists on pressing charges and won't let her awful husband stop her. Even more fortunate is that the police soon find a man matching the description.
At this point, the focus in the film changes. Instead of focusing on the women, the story focuses more on the accused. In many ways, the story tries to make you feel sympathetic towards him...and you wonder if he actually was the actual rapist. After all, eyewitness testimony is notoriously weak. What's next when all this comes to court?
While some might watch this film and get angry at the filmmakers, I appreciate how they didn't sanitize the story. First, the police weren't very nice...which often has been the case. Second, the film has very adult language and doesn't use euphemisms to talk around the assault. Third, the defense attorney's tactics are slimy and evil...which, sadly, was the norm back in the day.
He also didn't seem to care in the least if his client was innocent...he just wanted to 'win'...a real sociopath! Fortunately, courts don't allow this much leeway in cross-examining the victims....and I would hate to see the story sanitize things by having the attorney be nice.
So is the film worth seeing? Well, it is NOT a good film to watch if you've been a victim of sexual assault as it might be very traumatic watching the story. If you have and do watch, watch it with someone you love....and have some Kleenex handy. Also, there is a twist late in the film that might be tough on these viewers. It might be especially tough because it turns out that the accused is a lookalike for the REAL rapist! Overall, however, it's an excellent film....way ahead of its time.
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