Directed By: Olivia Klaus
Grade: A

Sin By Silence is a documentary about a group of women who have been brutally abused for many years and murdered their husbands as they saw this as the only way out. Even with their abusers out of their lives, they are still very much trapped as most of them are spending the rest of their lives behind bars. Many have already served 20 or more years and have never even been able to see their grandkids because of this. Many of these women have had suicidal desires and were at an all time low. They were barely making it through. One of these women began to realize that she might have not been the only one in this institution that have gone through what she has, and are still going through it. These women formed together to make the first inmate-initiated and led group in the United States. Through this the women learned that they weren’t alone and that many other women around them had gone through the same thing. It seemed like their lives were over, but in talking about it, not only were they given some closure and understanding, but they were also given a purpose. They might not be able to change what happened to them but as 1 in every 3 women are abused, they used their experiences to prevent what happened to them from happening to others who might be headed towards the same destructive path.

When talking about domestic violence the first question is usually why doesn’t the women just leave. Sin By Silence goes through personal accounts where leaving wasn’t much of a possibility whether it be the sake of the family, financial reasons, or because they were convinced that they were the crazy one and perhaps things didn’t happen the way they remember. Some of the husbands would purposely get their wives fired from their jobs when they tried to leave. One even had a warrant out for his arrest, but never had to pay his time for fracturing his wife’s skull and breaking her ribs. Most of the women never thought that they would be in abusive relationships. One women’s husband/abuser was the pastor of her church, who no one would have ever believed was a violent man.

Many of the women in the documentary had their court case in the late 1980’s when laws were very different, especially domestic violence laws. There really wasn’t anything to protect these women. When they were being judged for what they did, the abuse they encountered really wasn’t a factor. They were given 1st and 2nd degree murder sentencing rather than self-defense, which is more reflective on the truth. These women begin to write letters and get coverage on what happened to them. From the support program they have created and the work they do, many of the convicts were given a second and more fair hearing. For many this might not make a difference as physical abuse is the only type of abuse that can easily be proven. As many of these women have been in jail already for several decades, the physical evidence isn’t nearly as strong as it would have been in their original trial. Still they continue fighting for their freedom and what is more important to them is to create discussion, to defeat the misconceptions of all the girls that think this could never happen to them, and to make a difference from their cells.

Sin By Silence shows that convicts even of violent crimes aren’t always the monsters that they are painted to be. In this case they are really the victims. It’s inspiring to be able to see these women who have been torn apart and broken down for most of their lives to be able to turn their pain around to do something positive. They are not done living and are trying to do good for others as they feel if they would have known everything they do now, they would never had let things get as bad as they did. Sin By Silence brings us in to these women’s most painful memories, but it also gives us the chance to really know them. These are just like people that we know, people who are close to us in our lives. They are 1 in 3 women, they are just the example of what happens after years of abuse. Sin By Silence sparks important conversations and squashes that voice in your head that tells you nothing like this could ever happen to you. It shows that there is always something you can do for yourself and for others. Life in prison still leaves you with a life, still offering the opportunity to initiate change. There are always others around who have gone through what you have; you are never alone. What Sin By Silence really does to make it stand out, is it transfers so much emotion to the viewer. It is impossible not to feel for these women. Sin By Silence is a very powerful film full of emotions, heartbreak, and the strength of convicted victims who fight for themselves and every other person who could be subjected to the same entrapment.