Audrie & Daisy (2016)

 

 

 

 

Audrie & Daisy is a documentary film which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2016. It is the story of two American teenage girls who were drugged and raped by teenage boys they knew and regarded as their friends.

 

Here is some basic information about this film:

 

** Directors: Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk

** Producers: Bonni Cohen, Sara Dosa and Richard Berge

** The film is available on Netflix

** Run time: 95 minutes

 

Here are the names of the two American teenagers whose cases are covered in the film:

 

** Audrie Pott of Saratoga, California. She was 15 when she was drugged and raped. She committed suicide on 12 September 2012, just eight days after the incident took place. She was only 15.

 

** Daisy Coleman of Maryville, Missouri. She was 14 when she was drugged and raped in 2012. Four years later, when this film was released, she was still alive and seemed to be doing well. Sadly, this was not the case. She committed suicide on 4 August 2020. She was only 23.

 

Audrie and Daisy lived in different parts of the US. They never met; they did not know each other, but they suffered a similar fate. This is why their cases appear in the same film.

 

When Audrie and Daisy reported what had happened to them, they received almost no support from the local community. Instead they were blamed for reporting the boys who had committed the crime.

 

Social media played a huge role in both cases. Critics used the social media to blame the victims. The endless barrage of harsh complaints was too much for them. They felt their lives had been destroyed. They lost the will to live. This situation drove them to take their own lives.

 

What do reviewers say about this film? Here are the results of three review aggregators:

 

72 per cent = IMDb

73 per cent = Meta

73 per cent = Rotten Tomatoes (the general audience)

81 per cent = Rotten Tomatoes (the professional critics)

 

On the Roger Ebert website, Sheila O’Malley offers 3 of 4 stars, i.e. a rating of 75 per cent. Sheila O’Malley writes:

 

“One of the clear conclusions of ‘Audrie & Daisy’ is that:

 

“If you are a boy and you screw up, the response will be ‘boys will be boys,’ and there will be an organized effort to get you back on track.

 

“If you are a girl and you screw up, you will be thrown to the wolves. No one cares. You will be blamed. And - in the case of Daisy Coleman's family - your home will be burned to the ground in retaliation for what you have done to those nice boys.”

 

I agree with the numerous positive reviews. This film is an important document about a serious problem. It is hard to watch, because it is a painful story, but it is highly recommended.

 

PS # 1. The following review is available online: Robert Abele, “Documentary ‘Audrie & Daisy’ is a harrowingly look at sexual assault,” Los Angeles Times, 21 September 2016.

 

PS # 2. For more information about this topic, see the following items:

 

** The Invisible War (2012)

** The Hunting Ground (2015)

** The Rape of Recy Taylor (2017)

** I am Evidence (2017)

** Roll Red Roll (2018)

** Unbelievable (2019)

 

*****