Documentary film is a tough art form. Depending on the writer/filmmaker, the work can be a distant, emotional dislocation—some sick journey into the pathos of the “other’ or a slice of cinema verité that may be too honest and hard for the toughest temperament to handle….

And audiences aren’t fooled, they know the documentary con game, the one of using the medium of film for “heightening awareness” around a taboo or exposing some dirty secret when in fact it’s really a front seat to a train wreck. It often backfires, exposing a lack of care towards the subject, stripping away the humanity and leaving a freak show that objectifies the already vulnerable.

So the PBS trailer for Lumo made me anxious, knowing the story of woman-as-conflict-casualty…. And then there’s the daily massacre in the Democratic Republic of Congo , specifically, Goma, in eastern Congo, as the backdrop; all a mixed brew, setting the stage for witnessing, first hand, the human casualties and the mess of western tentacles influencing government officials and their cohorts. The wars in the DRC and surronds have been officially named "Africa's First World War" and Lumo's story is the war by other means...

Directed by Brent-Jorgen Perllmut and Nelson Walker III, Lumo is the story of Lumo Sinai, a survivor of rape at the hands of soldiers who’s seized her village, brutalizing the women and girls. Lumo developed fistula , rendering her unsuitable for marriage (she was engaged to be married) and forsaken by her community. The fact that a continent wide medical problem is the result of sexual violence is alarming.

But this is Lumo's story, she is a beautiful young woman; you can see the sadness in her face but she’s cheerful, witty and a popular patient.

It’s a hard story but an uplifting one of a woman’s healing process and an organization, HEAL Africa that does nothing short of providing a serious miracle for women who have been victims of sexual violence in the Congo. HEAL Africa provides community-based healthcare and support to women and children affected in a million ways by the ongoing conflict. HEAL Africa has a special hospital in Goma that is really a physical and spiritual healing space; it provides fistulae reconstructive surgery and a sisterhood led by “Mama’s” who offer wisdom, hugs, prayers, laughter and nurturing love to help patients transition back to their villages and daily lives. Some of the women give birth while in care at the hospital.

Part of Lumo’s healing is “spiritual therapy” by time spent with a minister and she’s seen recounting the rapes, subsequent rejection and humiliation of losing her fiancé. Watching her question her spirituality and wondering about God’s will and if Jesus really cares is tough going. Lumo’s world and circumstances are hardly conducive to religious fervor much less faith that the “lord will provide…” but most of the women are deeply religious and cheer each other on with the keep-the-faith speeches.

And we know her story is the same woman’s story all over the world; women and children surviving wars and suffering at the hands of restless soldiers, patriarchy and downright gender oppression. The hospital is also a place for some gender activism—the women organize a march through Goma protesting violence against women. They are met with shouts, threats of violence, laughter, etc. and the government hack empathizing with their struggle but reminding them of their role in their abuse: if women didn’t dress suggestive, they’d avoid male advances and the violence that sometimes accompanies it.

Lumo goes back to her village at the end of the film. I was already a mess watching this and to find out that the filmmakers had no contact with her for some time almost tore me apart. I went to the website so there’s an update on Lumo. She’s lost her fiancé to the violence and her fistula returned…….

She was interviewed in March 2007, an awful interview of her saying little because the interviewer is doing all the talking and asking odd questions about her wanting to go to America. She’s a little disengaged, hardly smiling and answering all the questions by pointing to god’s will……….

I’m not sure how to vent my mixture of rage and sadness but here’s Lumo’s story .