I am Woman, Hear Me Roar

What Abigail Disney chose to portray through her documentary was something ignored by absolutely everyone, making this film a connector for women all over the world.

She mentioned at the luncheon that her decision to not use a narrator was vital to the project because ' Liberian women have already been spoken for, too many times have they been spoken for'. This aspect of the documentary was not obvious to me when I watched it the first time, however it did make a big impact whether the viewer knew it or not. I imagine the film with a narrator and it could not have been as powerful as to hear Leymah and her friends telling the story themselves. Common Language has played its part in allowing them to communicate their story to the rest of the world.

Abigail Disney is an activist whose mind is set on demolishing weapons and joining all countries in the process of peace. This is good, and she inspired me. She also demonstrated that with new media this is possible, by bringing the story to us and connecting it with all women, in all countries. She mentioned some examples of when she presented it in other countries and how different women from Europe to America had all responded differently. In Europe some women felt it was insulting and some said it was the best thing they'd seen, and they were 80 (or something). She mentioned the different reactions in America and how Americans tended to separate themselves more from this documentary and did not connect or find similarities as did the European women. This reflects onto how most Americans forget we are involved in two wars at the moment and how we separate ourselves from deatha and destruction is unbelievable sometimes.

One cannot, should not, be negative or critical of Disney, she is aware she is a white woman trying to make a film about Africa. And in order to not be cliche she did things differently in the details of this documentary. I am sure none of her story is false, and to not believe the women who work for peace in Liberia again is pessimism at its worst.


In these viewings of a press conference, you see these women elaborate on the documentary.