| Notes | This gripping story is about a band of heroic ordinary women(Christian and Muslim) who, unarmed stood up to tyrants and won. The film is a straightforward account of Liberia's Women's Peace Initiative,headed by Leymah Gbowee which arose in the late 1990s in response to national chaos. Rival militia leaders, driven by ethnic factionalism, hunger for power and outright greed, armed boys and men to exterminate their adversaries. Rape and looting were widespread. An estimated 1 million Liberians became refugees; about 250,000 were killed. Leymah Gbowee is a co-recipient of the Womens Rights Prize 2009 as well as John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. She is a graduate of EMU Centre for justice and peacebuilding.Pray the Devil Back to Hell is the extraordinary story of a small band of Liberian
women who – armed only with white T-shirts and the courage of their convictions
- came together in the midst of a bloody civil war, took on the warlords, and
brought peace to their shattered country.
As the rebel noose tightened upon Monrovia, and peace talks faced collapse, the
women of Liberia – Christian and Muslims united - formed a thin but unshakable
white line between the opposing forces, and successfully demanded an end to
the fighting.
In one remarkable scene, the women barricaded the site of stalled peace talks in
Ghana, and announced they would not move until a deal was done. Faced with
eviction, they invoked the most powerful weapon in their arsenal – threatening to
remove their clothes. It worked.
The women of Liberia are living proof that moral courage and non-violent
resistance can succeed, even where the best efforts of traditional diplomacy
have failed.
Their demonstrations culminated in the exile of Charles Taylor and the election of
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa's first female head of state – and mark the vanguard
of a new wave of women taking control of their political destiny around the world.
But ignored by the press, discounted by the politicians and obscured by the
women's own modesty, this remarkable accomplishment was on its way to being
lost to historical memory forever.
Pray the Devil Back to Hell reconstructs the moment through interviews, archival
footage and striking images of contemporary Liberia. It is compelling testimony to
the potential of women worldwide to alter the history of nations. |
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