Documentary reveals sexual violence horrors in Congo

"Rape has always been used as a weapon of force."

These are the first words spoken in the gripping documentary, "The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo."

Students crowded into the community room of the African American Cultural Center Thursday, where the 2008 Sundance Award-winning film was shown in conjunction with the 30th anniversary of Metanoia. Directed by the Emmy Award-winning Lisa F. Jackson, "Rape in the Congo" takes viewers on the harrowing journey into the depths of Central Africa to chronicle the stories of the nation's rape victims - estimated at a staggering 200,000 - and the struggle of the women to become whole again.

Jackson, who herself was gang-raped in what many describe as the "nice neighborhood" of Georgetown in Washington, documents her trip from her native New York to the war-ravaged Congo, a thousand-mile trek she embarked upon in the hopes that her own story would motivate other women to stand up and be heard.

In 1999, four years after the start of the war in the Congo, the nation saw a massive increase in violence, specifically sexual violence against women and young girls - all at the hands of official Congolese soldiers. In her attempt to grasp the full scope of this "sexual terrorism," Jackson spoke directly to the women, had an open and frank discourse with the rapists themselves and consulted with the director of the local hospital, whose patients ranged from 2-year-old children to women in their 80s.

With a raw shooting style, in which she shied away from absolutely nothing, Jackson did wonders in conveying the social ostracism the women faced after their rapes and the subsequent, unimaginable lack of resources available to treat them.

First-semester ACES student Theresa Govert, whose eyes were red with tears at the end of the showing, said the film was "eye-opening."

"It makes me think about how materialistic our society is. We shouldn't be focusing on what we want," she said. "We should be thinking about how we can give back."