6.23.2004

Excerpts from my reaction Paper..

Rarely are times when we get to watch movies that affect us entirely but then there are some that differs. And when we do find those exceptional movies, we are surprised by how it is able to change our outlook. Sure we watch movies to experience the fun of it, for the tears and the drama, or maybe to feel the feeling of being in love or plainly, just to go through a roller coaster of emotions. But then we come across a movie that unexpectedly creates an impact. Although a movie makes you feel like you are just watching, these rare movies, stirs up feelings in you that you come out of a movie house changed. Suddenly, this fictional movie crosses your reality. And that is what the movie, The Accused, has done for me.

In a nutshell, the movie was about Sarah Tobias, a hard-living, fiercely independent woman who was gang raped in the back of a local bar. She finds herself battling the legal system not once but twice, as she and her attorney Kathryn Murphy go after her attackers and the onlookers whose cheering fueled and encouraged the assault.

Maybe the movie made an impact on me is because it posed an issue that just because a woman dresses provocatively, does not mean, in any way, that it is right for a man to abuse her, let alone think that it is okay just because of the way she dresses. No one as in no one deserves such. And I must admit sometimes I fall guilty of these things. Maybe that is one of the reasons why the movie has an effect on me. Having been raised in a conservative family, the closest thing I could wear to something modern till now is, a skirt. And even wearing a skirt sometimes irks my dad. Which means, there should be no spags straps, and the likes. Although I am okay with that. :) This is because my dad believes that how a lady dresses is how people will perceive them. Is it not true that when a girl dresses sexily, she is sometimes deemed as wild or easy to get? But then we forget to realize that we are just seeing the exterior of it. That is why when we hear rape cases and a woman is seen in such, it saddens me to think that some people think she deserves it. Because of this close mindedness, we forget one thing, and that is RESPECT. Respect of how a person dresses is only the beginning of it, but more than that if only we have respect of others as being humans as well. It affects me greatly how these men could rape a girl like Sarah, which is defenseless and undeserving of such inhumane act. To think that these acts really happens in real life.

Just to say how much I was affected by the movie, aside from being emotional after the triumph of Sarah, after the movie, I felt I was quite angry. Angry because of how evil the characters of the rapists and those who provoked them were. But mostly with the students who also watched the film. This was because during the rape scene, I heard a couple of boys laughing because in one part of the movie, it showed the crowd of onlookers, who was watching the rape, shouting some indecency and some provoking words. I did not find anything funny about it at all. Sure it might even be least funny if only it was not said during a rape scene. But what got me irritated was these boys were laughing as if they enjoyed what was being said. I mean, someone is being raped, what’s funny about that? I got so mad that for a minute there, I hated boys so much. But of course that was just a moment of being “over”. hehe. :)But it still does not changed the fact how those boys reacted. GRRRR talaga!

But reality says that these things, no matter how horrible it may seem, happens. It is just unfortunate that some people just have no love and respect for others that they are willing to do such evil acts. We may not have the absolute power to change or even stop these evil people, but we can start by having the right mind, right heart and giving the respect that everyone deserves.


Vote BIC for President. hehhe. joke!joke!joke! hahaha

bic walked away at 12:03 AM