What Does a Sympathetic Portrayal of Sexual Assault on Screen Look Like?
As Sexual Assault Awareness Month comes to an end, I’d like to urge viewers and filmmakers to take a long and hard look at how rape is portrayed on screen.

Tony, an American journalist, is assigned to assist the investigation team of Berita Satu. In Jakarta, Tony immediately attracted to cover street children and Acil is his choice. Interviews are initially go smoothly, but it turns into a mess when Acil steals Tony’s camera. Tony pursue Acil mightily to get into the area of the fishing village. There he meets with Anggun, who is a teacher for street children. Then Marni, a mother who has to be prostitute, and Jampang, the head thug in the fishing village. Through them, Tony goes into marginal lives of the people of Jakarta with all their problems.
As Sexual Assault Awareness Month comes to an end, I’d like to urge viewers and filmmakers to take a long and hard look at how rape is portrayed on screen.
As one of the women said in the film, friendship in your teens is “as important as any lover” and it’s clear they lived that philosophy throughout their early adult lives as well.
The social issues The Half of it takes on are handled well, between the antagonization brought on to Ellie for her race and the conflict that arises from her being gay. Both aspects of her character are built up over the course of the film and don’t seem abrupt or rushed. The film shows racism towards Ellie and her and father in varying levels, from having her schoolmates specifically address her as "Chinese girl” to the fore mentioned way her Dad is treated due to language barriers. The same can be said about Ellie being a lesbian. While she never truly “comes out” in the narrative, that does not undermine her journey of self-discovery from being meaningful. These ideas aren’t thrust upon the viewer in a preachy manor, the scenarios that occur feel believable given the rural setting. The film presents watchers with problems whom those like Ellie may face, and leaves us to sit with them and reflect.
Eddington attempts to capture how media is intertwined with the uncomfortable present.