London - Angelina Jolie’s acclaimed film about the kidnapping and rape of a 14-year-old girl in Ethiopia has helped burnish her image as a human rights campaigner.
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Joel Ryan/Invision/APAngela Jolie came clean on the day of the premiere, saying Difret was about Aberash Bekele, kidnapped and raped at 14. Picture: Invision/AP
But the Hollywood star is at the centre of controversy, with the makers of Difret being accused of exploiting the real-life victim at the heart of its story.
Aberash Bekele, 32, is angry with the film-makers for using her story without her knowledge or consent, and failing, initially, to pay her compensation
Bekele was abducted to push her into a forced marriage. She escaped, but was put on trial for killing one of her abductors.
Although Bekele was released by the courts, elders forced her to go into exile, away from her home and family.
Jolie, who helped produce the film, spoke proudly about how it would “make a change” in the world. It was screened last year at her Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, hosted in London alongside then-foreign secretary William Hague.
But Bekele believes the film, which has won awards around the world, could place her and her family in danger of reprisals. She was not consulted by the film-makers and did not give them permission to lay her traumas bare on screen.
With the character based on Bekele renamed Hirut and with the film focusing on her lawyer, the Ethiopian directors originally refused to acknowledge that the story was about her.
Bekele, now a mother of one, was the focus of a 1999 BBC documentary Schoolgirl Killer, made by journalist Charlotte Metcalf.
Metcalf, who saw Bekele earlier this year, said: “Aberash feels doubly abducted not to have had the story acknowledged as hers.
“It’s an absolute outrage that they should pretend it could have been anyone’s story and she’s still fighting that.
“Today, she could be bathing in the glow of international admiration for her extraordinary courage and resilience.
“Instead she is invisible, her story taken.”
Last year, Bekele won an injunction banning the screening of the film in Ethiopia.
She obtained the court order on the night of the film’s premiere in the country, just after the producers had screened a message in which Jolie said it was based on the “untold story of Aberash Bekele”.
While an out-of-court settlement eventually led to her being paid a small amount of money, Bekele lives in poverty and feels she has been exploited by the film.
She told an Ethiopian newspaper: “My life is on the edge (financially) while they are planning to premiere my story in a glamorous way. That is not right.”
Jolie, 39, a mother of six who is married to fellow star Brad Pitt, 51, has become increasingly known for her humanitarian work.
The Oscar-winning actress is a special envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and was awarded an honorary damehood by the Queen for her efforts.
Last year, she spoke excitedly about Difret getting a wider release, saying: “I cried for the first 20 minutes and then I smiled for the rest of it, thinking I can’t wait for the world to see it because it will make a change.”
Jolie’s representatives did not respond to requests for comment on the controversy this week.
Daily Mail
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