The film 365 Dni was controversial, accused of glorifying rape and sex trafficking. Singer Duffy, who has suffered similar abuse, asks Netflix to delete it in a poignant open letter.
Last February, Duffy took the floor to deliver a chilling testimony. The 36-year-old Welsh singer said she was "drugged, kidnapped and raped", and that the trauma was still chasing her. On July 2, the young woman wrote an open letter to Reed Hastings, co-founder of Netflix, requesting that the platform remove the controversial film 365 Dni, or 365 days in French.
The Polish film was strongly criticized, accused of trivializing the culture of rape. A man kidnaps a young woman there and gives her a year to fall in love with him. "Recently I publicly spoke of a torture which I suffered. I was drugged, kidnapped, trafficked and raped. […] Today, I don't know what to think, say or do, other than contacting you and explaining in this letter how irresponsible it was for Netflix to broadcast the film 365 Dni. I don't want to be in this position to write to you, but my sufferings compel me to do so, because I lived a violent experience of the same type as the one that you chose to present as "an erotic film" https: //www.aufeminin.com/ ", writes Duffy in his text published by the magazine Deadline.
"365 Dni glamorizes the brutal reality of sex trafficking, kidnapping and rape. It should not be, or marketed as, a source of entertainment. "says Duffy. The singer recalls that, when she writes these words, around 25 million people are trafficked worldwide, "80% of them are women and girls, and 50% are minors". "It hurts me that Netflix provides a platform for this kind of" cinema ", which eroticizes kidnapping, distorts sexual violence and makes traffic sexy", writes the singer, recalling that, after having seen the film, some people asked Michele Morrone, the main actor, to remove them and to make them undergo the same thing.
"We all know that Netflix would not host content that glamourizes pedophilia, racism, homophobia, genocide or any other crime against humanity. The world would rise up and cry out. Tragically, the victims of trafficking and kidnappings are invisible, yet with 365 Dni, their suffering is transformed into “erotic drama”, as Netflix describes it. And so, I am obliged to speak on their behalf and ask you to correct this wrong; to commit the resources of Netflix and the skills of its talented directors to produce and distribute content that depicts the truth of the harsh and desperate reality. I calm down to explain to you here that when I was a victim of trafficking and rape, I was lucky to find my life, but far too many people did not have the same luck ", writes the singer.
Duffy then addresses people who have watched 365 Dni, who say that "it's just a movie" : "It is not" fair "[a film] when it has a great influence and transforms a little discussed subject, such as sex trafficking and abduction, by making the subject erotic". "I encourage the millions of people who have enjoyed the film to reflect on the reality of kidnapping and trafficking, force and sexual exploitation, and this experience which is the opposite of the glamorous fantasy portrayed in 365 Dni", she ends.
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