Room 2806

 


This film is a scathing indictment of the American justice system, and the French political establishment. One day, a maid is sexually assaulted in one of Manhattan's most luxurious hotels, by one of the world's most powerful men. The case seems pretty straightforward. The man, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the president of the IMF, with a history of sexual assault, attacked the maid. The New York police gathered the evidence, but it quickly became clear that Kahn could use all of his financial power to discredit the victim. She was accused of making it up, being unreliable and a prostitute. The prosecutor's office dropped the charges and did very little investigation of his background. If they had, they would have discovered that he was the person who lacked credibility (one of his victims had even been on television saying that he had attacked her)-of course, that was in French-so why bother investigating? Kahn's political career was ruined, but he served no time in jail, and the victim was eventually awarded what is rumoured to be 2 million dollars. The great (I mean in terms of story-telling) part of this documentary, is that they interview his friends, who are completely clueless about how a rich and powerful man's behaviour is completely disgusting. They even call it romantic. It's not romantic to assault a woman in a hotel room who has a poor grasp of English and understands no French. This is a thought-provoking film series.

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