A White Substance

is just as beautiful a film as its subject matter is ugly. In a smooth montage of meticulous compositions, the stationary camera placed at an appropriate distance in front of the interviewee, people tell how soldiers use rape during times of war as a weapon to break the enemy.
The scene of the action is the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is 2006, six years since the beginning of the UN peace mission there. The research reports read aloud by shaken employees of Doctors Without Borders don't lie: sexual violence, also against children, followed by illness, deformity and traumas, pregnancy and social exclusion. Then the film gives the floor to a perpetrator, who denies his actions, followed by the judge of a military tribunal, who plays down the problem. The local population blames the UN soldiers for having sexual intercourse with young girls in exchange for money or other favours. Everyone plays his or her dreary role, while the ubiquitous helicopters circle above the drama.