“The Second Lecture of Film Screening and Lecture on Domestic Violence” Reported
by Keiko
Kawaguchi
On Tuesday, December 17th, “The Second Lecture of Film Screening
and Lecture on
Domestic Violence” sponsored by Pandora Inc.
was held at Shibuya Uplink. First of all, the
documentary film based on the testimony of DV victims in the United States titled, Defending Our Lives (1993 production) was
shown. It is
a rare piece of film depicting the point of view of the victims through
their testimony of their terrifying fear of DV. After the
screening, Yukiko
Tsunoda, a lawyer who had researched the reality of DV for the
first time in Japan in 1992, commented on the content of this
movie. The first part of my report contains a note
on the
significance and a rare feature of the movie followed by a summary of
the lecture.
Significance of the Movie,
Defending Our Lives
The main
feature of Defending Our Lives describes
the fear and
reality of DV told explicitly from the point of view of “the
victims.” The main characters
are 4 American women in prison on
charges of murdering their husband or lover (i). After many
years of tolerating unjust violence from their husband or lover, the women resulted to killing
the abusers at the price of being accused of murder.
One
by one, these women talks quietly about their psychological state of
mind caused by cruel mental and physical violence they had continued to bear –
an experience that cannot be simply expressed by words like “human rights violations
against women.”
What
choices did they have? Even if the only choice left was to kill, the
psychological process that led to their act can only be understood by those
that actually experience the situation.
The
film contains footages from video recordings taken during police interrogation
and beat-up face
photo shown as evidence of violence, but the film exclusively
is composed of testimonies of four women.
As
a connector of these independent testimonies, footage of an ex-DV victim, a district attorney and
university professor, is inserted as she talks about “punishment” and “sin” of women before the
students of the Harvard University School of Law.
According to the movie,
the criminal law of the United States (at the time of filming)
judged the act of killing by DV victims as a first -degree murder
which was a
heavier crime
than that of the serial killer or serial rapist. Through the voices of these female victims who
had to resort to killing to protect their own life, it can be said that the significance of this
work is to appeal to the public the lack of awareness of
justice system on DV.
“I fought. Thus I
am alive.”
These words of
a young black
woman spoken at the end of the film hit my heart hard. This is a
shocking
movie, an eye-opener, based on
a rare testimony of survivors.
Lecture by a
Lawyer, Yukiko Tsunoda, Following the Screening
Yukiko Tsunoda was one of the members of women’s group
that introduced the concept of DV in Japan after conducting a survey on domestic
violence for the first time in Japan in 1992. She lived
in the United
States from1994 to 1996 to observe how DV Prevention Law
operated. At
that time, she found what was great about the
system was that along with the operation of the DV Act was the mechanism of American DV
survivors participating in a process to make the law. In Japan DV Prevention Law
was enacted for the first time in 2001. Even after 20 years, the
point this movie produced in 1993 (ii) tried to reveal to the public has continued to
be a “new” topic in Japan, is beyond
comprehension for Ms. Tsunoda.
She further pointed out the lack of understanding of DV by
the Japanese
judiciary by bringing
up an example
of two trials she was involved
in. They
were both
incidents similar to the cases of women who appeared in the film, Defending Our Lives. One is the case in 1991 which
took place
before Ms. Tsunoda introduced the concept of DV in Japan. The concept of DV
at that time was unknown
in Japan even to Ms. Tsunoda so that DV and violence which had
been in the
background of the case was not recognized by the prosecutor nor the judge; and
as a result,
the defendant, the DV victim, was imposed a
severe sentence. The other case was that which occurred right after
the DV Act was established and enforced
in 2001. In this case, the DV Act worked against the defendant. The
judges applied the newly enacted DV Act to question the defendant why she
had not consulted with a lawyer to seek resolution through law
before taking
an action of murdering. Ms. Tsunoda made an important point that, “someone
can acquire the profession in law even if that person has absolutely no
knowledge or understanding about rape and DV, which is the core problem.”
Structure
of submission and domination produced by violence place such a
grave
psychological and mental impact on women that they
are pushed beyond the limit of “No Way Out” and left with
no other choice but to kill their abusers. This is what Defending Our Lives is all about, depicted through the voices of
women.
Immediately after watching the movie, to hear a concrete story from Ms.
Tsunoda who dealt
with similar
trials in Japan, I was able to re-confirm how important it is to
understand the issue from the viewpoint of the victims
of DV. I
think the main point in question is the need for the
society,
including the police and lawyers, to recognize the problem of DV
correctly from the standpoint of the victims. I truly hope
from the bottom of my heart that law, reflecting the voices of victims
and survivors of DV
together with the social structure to support the DV victims
will soon function properly and effectively.
The last point made by Ms. Tsunoda was that DV is said to be an
emotional
abuse against children. It is also the problem reflected in the second film, an animation titled,
Dad, don’t Hit Mom. The need for gender education for
children has also been proposed in order to break the intergenerational chain
of DV. To do so, budget is needed. And to ensure such
a budget, we need to
enact such a
law. The
lecture was
concluded with Ms. Tsunoda’s strong statement, “The root of the budget is
the law!”
Defending Our Lives (1993 production)
Director: Margaret Lazarus
30 min / Japanese dubbed
version / incl. study guide
DVD with screening rights ¥ 40,000 (tax not included) (Limited to schools and
public use)
Received
66th Academy Short Documentary
Film Award in1994
(i) All the women in the
movie, including the four who made the testimony are members of the victim
support groups in the private sector, BWFB (Battered Women Fighting Back!).
The organization was launched in order to help the women in prison for killing their abuser, and
it is actively
appealing to the public that DV is currently a serious human rights violation threatening
women and children.
(ii) The film was produced by Cambridge Documentary Film. It
is an NPO that
has produced, directed, and distributed documentary films
on various
social issues such as image of women, DV, trauma, rape, eating disorders,
self-awareness, media literacy, homophobia, labor movement, gender roles, career counseling,
nuclear war, health crisis related to sex and reproduction, and parenting by
gay and
lesbians. Films produced have won many awards, including an
Academy Award, and it has been screened at the United Nations, the National
Assembly, and in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.
Translated and adapted by M. Doioka from the following
Japanese site:
