Domestic Violence

Domestic Abuse Filmmaker Frederick Wiseman explores the hidden world of abuse
Edited by Mary Eileen O'Connor

It is estimated that more than four million women are abused by their husbands or boyfriends each year in the United States, yet, too often, these women remain faceless victims.

In his new two-part film Domestic Violence, airing Tuesday, March 18 and Wednesday, March 19 at 9 p.m. on WHYY TV12, acclaimed documentarian Frederick Wiseman takes an unflinching look at the issues and impact of physical and mental abuse in America.

Shot in Wiseman's trademark cinéma-verité style with no narration or music, the film reveals the world of domestic violence from multiple vantage points, presenting compelling stories of people caught up in a tragic cycle that transcends boundaries of class, race and income level.

Wiseman, who has captured the essence of the human condition by turning his camera on a remarkable array of American institutions and practices, including Philadelphia's Northeast High School in his controversial 1969 film High School, was granted unprecedented access to film day-to-day life at The Spring, Florida's largest shelter for abuse victims.

Here, the Emmy winner talks about making this haunting new film, on the streets, in women's shelters and in the courtrooms of Tampa, Florida:

Q: What inspired you to focus on the topic of domestic violence?

Frederick Wiseman: I'm absolutely amazed that people can be so cruel to each other. I thought, before I made the Domestic Violence movies, that I'd had a lot of experience and seen a lot, but I was naïve. When I heard the women's stories, I was absolutely horrified.

Q: How did the troubling scenes you witnessed affect you?

FW: There's a difference between when you're shooting the film and when you're editing the film. When you're shooting, it's not that what's going on doesn't register, but you have a job to do and you only have one chance to get a given sequence.

So the fact that you're very busy doesn't lessen the horror but you don't have too much time to think about it because you've got to think about the technical aspects of what you're doing. But when I was editing the films, when I had to listen to these stories over and over and figure out how to edit them, I found it really depressing to be immersed in so much misery.

Q: What was the most upsetting thing you saw while filming?

FW: There's a sequence in the first part with a beautiful little girl who describes what went on with her parents. And she says something to the effect of wishing her father was dead.

Q: What made you choose Tampa as a setting?

FW: In Tampa, the county and city are quite well organized to try and deal with domestic violence. Someone I knew arranged for me to meet the heads of the various agencies that dealt with domestic violence.

I went down there and told them what I wanted to do and they said 'okay.' It's very hard to get into a shelter, so I was pleased they had sufficient confidence in me to give me permission.

Q: How did your subjects -- the battered women, their abusers -- react when you asked if you could film them?

FW: In the course of eight weeks maybe only one or two people turned me down. Nobody was offended. Toward the end of the shooting, in fact, a group of women came up to me and said they were very pleased to be in the film because they thought it was an opportunity to let other women know about their experiences, and they hoped the movie would be of some help to them.

Q: What were the more rewarding aspects of this project?

FW: I was very impressed with the way that the women were trying so hard to break the cycle of domestic violence. Also, the generosity of the women and the staff in agreeing to participate in the film.

Domestic Violence airs Tuesday, March 18 and Wednesday, March 19 at 9 p.m. on WHYY TV12.