Difret
Ethnic Storytelling
“Difret” is a docudrama that tells a straightforward and
unpretentious story of a 14 year old Ethiopean girl who faced
murder charges for killing her abductor and rapist. The story
of her trial and vindication made international news in the
mid 1990s.
At that time it was estimated that 30% of
Ethiopian marriages began with abduction and rape. In this
film, as in real life, the abducted girl was defended by an
organization established to provide pro bono services for
abused women—the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association.
Lacking polish this film nevertheless does a good job of
showing how far removed
the rural poor are from the urban middle class in Ethiopia.
This film is hard to find. There is a BBC sponsored
documentary on the same topic:
Youtube.
