Audrie & Daisy
“Audrie & Daisy” is a documentary about two sexual assault cases and their outcomes, directed by Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk. It is a powerful movie with a focus on the way the victims were treated by the people in their towns and local law enforcement. The two assaults occurred five months apart, in two towns separated by thousands of miles. Both victims, Audrie Pott and Daisy Coleman, were assaulted by boys they knew. Audrie and Daisy were both ordinary kids before being thrust into national news in the wake of such devastating incidents. The film uses social media posts and interviews with the perpetrators, to give the viewer a comprehensive account of what occurred. However, the real genius of the film lies in its portrayal of how the girls’ towns—Saratoga, California, and Maryville, Missouri—failed to protect them, while punishing their attackers far too leniently. In “Audrie & Daisy,” lawmakers and police blame the victims for the crimes perpetrated against them before denouncing the media’s attention to the sexual assaults.
In the first part of the movie, fifteen-year-old Audrie gets intoxicated at a party, where a boy sexually assaults her in the presence of several others, who take photographs that eventually circulate on social media. The movie depicts Audrie’s heart-wrenching quest to find out what happened to her, displaying some of her frantic messages on screen. Tragically, after finding out the truth and suffering the abuse of cruel bullies, Audrie commits suicide. Later, the movie covers the story of Daisy, who is only fourteen when she is sexually assaulted by a seventeen-year-old while his friend records a video of the event. Afterwards, the boys dump her on her house’s front lawn in freezing cold weather. The boys get a slap on the wrist from the town as Daisy endures hurtful cyber-bullying. Despite these hardships, or perhaps because of them, Daisy teams up with other sexual assault survivors and shares her story, in the hopes that no future victim will feel as alone as she did. It is from this place of strength and resilience that Daisy calls upon the audience to speak out when a loved one is suffering.
The movie expertly deploys testimonies, interviews and old family videos from the girls’ childhoods to weave together these two stories. Even though the cases’ aftermath unfolded on national news for a lengthy period of time, William Hirsch, one of the producers, and his team were able to provide a concise, poignant summary in under two hours. The viewers even get to watch the police interview the criminals, which amplifies the film’s emotional impact. In one of the most powerful scenes in the movie, a Maryville sheriff repeatedly mentions how quickly he was able to apprehend the perpetrators and find their cell phones. Yet, at the end of the film, the viewer watches Daisy’s attackers receive a light punishment. Along with the older boys who assaulted her, the sheriff holds Daisy responsible for her assault. He goes on to criticize the public for refusing to move on, and questions whether the boys who perpetrated the assault were truly at fault. In this way, the viewer is able to witness Maryville’s polarization after the case, and having that perspective juxtaposed with Daisy’s reaction allows the viewer to develop a uniquely personal connection to the film, and to all survivors of sexual assault.
“Audrie & Daisy” is a must-see because even though it can be upsetting and hard-to-watch, it provides an intimate look at the psychological impact of sexual violence on communities in the age of social media.