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.

In late 2016, musician, producer and writer Gruff Rhys joined a group of British and Russian artists as they embarked on a journey from Moscow to the far east of Siberia. Capturing the journey on tape, the Welshman’s short film, The History of Nails—commissioned by the British Council—stops by key moments of twentieth-century Russian life, from the October Revolution through to communism and the Futurist movement, all to the sounds of a drone score.
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.
In all actuality, “Just Mercy” should be labeled a “wall punching narrative.” Constantly, the flick throws high forms of adversity our way, amping up our most inner levels of discomfort. Filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton wonderfully paces the film in such a way that replicates the slow-burn nature of justice.
Between its problematic nature, its lack of originality, and the senselessness of its violence, Onslaught cannot be recommended in good faith.
SPOILERS AHEAD. Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song distinguished itself from Hollywood films of its time by introducing New Wave cinema storytelling methods into Black cinema.
An action film led by two queens, fighting for what they believe in through power and pain.
A film about family and sacrifice... and carnivorous locusts coming after you.