Soldier’s Woman

In 1984, soldiers of the Peruvian army, who were fighting the terrorist movement Sendero Luminoso in the Peruvian province of Huancavelica raped many teenage girls and young women from the area, including Magda. When it transpired that she was pregnant, the family placed the blame on her. Many women who suffered this fate were despised and rejected. Decades later, Magda is participating in a lawsuit that she and other women have filed against their former assailants so they can regain something of their dignity.

Three friends who have been through the same experience visit Magda to lend their support. As they peel potatoes together, they recall the traumatic events they had to keep to themselves for so long. One of the friends admits that she feels a sense of rejection towards her two sons conceived by rape: “I look at them in anger and think they’ll grow like them, that they’ll also rape.” This empathetic documentary finally gives the women the attention and respect which they have been denied for so long.