What happens when a rape victim discovers she is pregnant? Does she carry on with the pregnancy or does she abort the “rape child’? How does her husband react when she decides to keep the baby? What makes her want to interact with her rapist, now waiting to meet the hanging rope? Rape is often filmed through strategically composed lighting, carefully choreographed shots, sound effects, visual metaphors of props and property and so on. None of these, however, happen in Aparna Sen’s film, The Rapist.
Rape is a political act. It is a means of intimidation and control which functions to perpetuate the subordinate status of women in patriarchal societies. In her book, Against Her Will, Susan Brownmiller argues that the possibility of rape has served as the main agent in the “perpetuation of male domination over women by force.” Her account goes back to the farthest reaches of recorded history to look for evidences of attitudes towards rape. She contends that once ‘discovered’ by men, rape has been, and continues to be used as a means to control women through the fear it inspires. The absence of a quid pro quo from the woman who is a victim of rape has made this a volatile weapon in the hands of men.
