This film asks a great question, How do we fix the family court system? This is an excellent film. Over the years I have been searching for films which spark conversations. I wanted to have movie night in mens hostels and womens shelters, wherever it was where THN worked. I found early on one of the best ways to raise awareness of issues and mobilize action oriented responses to protracted problems within society and family was by showing a documentary and having a group discussion afterward. Years ago in Montreal I met a man who spent a year on the streets of Montreal, basically living with a group of homeless men. He had a film camera and documented what life was like amongst the community of homeless persons in Montreal. He started a website for homeless persons to connect and communicate and for years I kept in touch with homeless persons all over Canada. He also created a film, which is still today very useful as a teaching aid and as a discussion starter. See the Canada wide homelessness portal homelessnation.org was started by discussions which arose out of the screening of the film. This film Divorce Corp is being banned all across the United States. Womens rights groups are protesting the film because the filmmaker took the unpopular stance that the best parenting arrangement for divorced persons is shared parenting, rather than sole custody to the mother. The director points out in the film and in interviews that women now earn on average 97% of mens wages. That men and women are equally represented in the workplace and in college. So that any discrepancy now seen in womens wages can be easily put down to extended maternity leave or some such anomaly. Whereas the laws granting preferential allocation of custody to women was based upon an education, income and professional gap between a male wage earner and a female home care giver. The reason for the bias no longer exists yet still sole custody is disproportionately allocated to women while alimony and child support are still being disproportionately allocated to men. And the children in the middle suffer. The way they handle this and other issues in this film is so fair and balanced (unless you are a feminist which is not fair and not balanced), makes it an excellent film to show to start this conversation. How do we fix the family court system? Judicial myopia A thought crossed my mind as I watched the conclusion to this film. My one critique of this amazing movie, is Judicial myopia. The film maker had no idea that this issues within family law are international. This film focuses on divorce, family law and child custody. And because of the myopic stance or choice of focus of the filmmaker, I have seen a team of broadcasters working with legal professionals in England, stating that the American justice system is broken, after watching this film. They claimed they are surprised Obama did not do such and such, and claimed that American justice can be bought at a price. They claimed only in America do people enter court unrepresented by a lawyer. Which simply is not the case. I know the problems in family law are international. They are also unconstitutional. So that human rights are suspended as we cross the threshold of the court room and human rights protections can not be carried into a family court. Every problem in the family courts in America, is paralleled in the United Kingdom, including the commonwealth nations of Canada, Australia and Jamaica. One would be mistaken to think that the credo THE BEST INTEREST OF THE CHILD was localized to the United States. One would be mistaken to assume that this extra constitutional claim of myopic child interest, is localized to a single nations courts. However I do not fault the filmmaker. Because a legal outsider is only as good as the honesty and forthcomingness of his sources. The Best interest of the child is an arbitrary and ill-defined jurisdiction, with no fixed meaning. It is a totally arbitrary phrase wherein the judge has unlimited interpretive power. For instance I have rarley seen a family law case where the court ever hears what a childs preference is. Instead the judge presumes to be the sole authority determining the best interest of the child. Otherwise this is an excellent film. movie4k.to//Divorce-Corp-watch-movie-5319771.html
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 12:46:51 +0000
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