Searching for Healing
The movie presents a new view of victims af sexual assault, as compared to mainstream television and movies. I watch a lot of Law and Order, especially Law and Order SVU, and comparing that television show with "Searching for Angela Shelton" brings certain characteristics of the differing ways in which sexual assault is portrayed. In the mainstream showing, the victim of the assault suffers horrible trauma. Then the police officers come into the story and try to catch the bad guy. The police manage to spend some time trying to console the victim, but the main plot of the story and the main focus of the camera is the process of searching for the perpetrator, who is most of the time brought to justice in the end. The documentary shows rape, incest and assault dealt with in a completely different manner. The show ends with the catching or prosecution of the criminal, placing the focus on the perpetrator; and we are left hanging on the status of the victim, who should seemingly be the center of the story.
The feature of the movie that stands out is Angela's (the main one) struggle with her history, having grown up experiencing rape, incest and other horrors within her family life. She is the victim, and in this story she is the one who goes out and searches for a solution to her situation. In this case, it is not the incarceration or punishment of the assaulters. Instead the focus is on her battle to reach an inner peace, and peach with the world around her, including her step-brother and potentially her father.
Even though Angela is the victim, she does not remain helpless or crippled by her horrible pains. She does cry, and she does hurt, but she still manages to be a person with strenght and power to move, physically and emotionally. She is not passive. Her way of discussing her past stands quite in contrast with mainstream representations and discussions of rape and incest. Angela is very open in her discussion of the trauma she went through, describing the exact events and the feelings that she had. She has a voice, and she uses it to let those around her know all that violence that has marked her.
Angela's travel to search for the other Angela Sheltons seems to be just an excuse to travel to find her father and step-brother. This becomes more apparent as the movie progresses, since as she gets closer to her father's home, she spends more time talking about her own issues and less time letting these other women speak. The documentary could have instead just focused on her, using some other medium to express her need to travel, instead of searching for these other women. But maybe part of Angela's healing process did involve meeting other women. Maybe her life could be ok, since all these other women were, mostly, doing ok.