Australian politicians should be made to watch this film

The Baulkham Hills African Ladies Troupe Written and directed by Ros Horin In cinemas now About 90% of women refugees have been subjected to sexual violence in the process of becoming a refugee. In this film, four African women who managed to make it to Australia open up about their experiences and, in the process, create a theatrical work that has swept the world. It is impossible to see this film without weeping, first in sorrow but then in joy as the women from Sydney’s western suburbs tell their stories. They are hard tales, as terrible as anything you could ever hear. There is no flinching from the truth and neither is there a drop of schmaltz. This straightforward and compelling film is part of a broader educational project. A version for schools is being prepared with teaching materials. Unsaid in the film, but haunting any Australian viewer, is the fact that our government is running its own refugee rape camp in Nauru. How I wish that every Australian federal politician could be forced to watch this film.