After watching Kirby Dick’s documentary The Hunting Ground, I considered this film to be a huge “eye-opener.” Rape is a term that many are familiar with and have heard hundreds of time. What many do not know is that sexual assault is a serious and ongoing problem. That is why The Hunting Ground is such a pivotal film.
In Dick’s documentary, we visit famous American colleges and universities that have built themselves such incredible reputations over the years. Places like Harvard and FSU have created reputations of academic excellence and football stardom. What Kirby does that is just so amazing is that he doesn’t care how idolized these schools are and exposes the truth. Exposing the truth is hard and intimidating, but Kirby does it in a beautiful way. Although intense and shocking, his film captures the audience’s attention with his incredible interviews, music, and graphics.
My favorite part of the film was definitely the ending. He shows many of the survivors taking a stand and speaking out with an upbeat soundtrack in the background, giving the audience an idea that this problem is resolving. Then, as the two main advocates of the movie are driving off to another campus, the two girls get a phone call from a parent saying how his daughter is in need of help after being the victim of sexual assault. This scene here shows the viewer that although people are starting to receive the message of how prevalent this problem is, it does not have a simple solution of one that can be fixed over night. People across the nation need to band together. I believe that The Hunting Ground should be screened on all college campuses across the country.
I agree with everything above besides the first paragraph. As statistics showed, many women do know that sexual assault and rape are a serious and ongoing problem. However, they choose not to report it for whatever reason, which is their personal decision. I feel like this wonderful documentary is so important that it should be shown worldwide to high school students who are about to graduate.
I completely agree with you about the ending. I think it was the perfect ending. Kirby Dick did an outstanding job of showing that college campus rape is a prevalent issue in our society. He showed victims and how they took their experiences to make a difference among colleges, other victims, and the system. It was heart-warming to see these two girls coming together to take a stand and change these injustices. I like how he should in the ending, though, the girls getting a call from a worried father who was worried about his daughter who had been raped. It showed that even though, as a country, we are making progress, college campus rape is still a major issue and there are still people out there not getting justice and suffering. I thought the ending was the best part of the film. It was absolutely beautiful.