Friday, November 14, 2008

Life has been kind if you are not aware of the 12th circle of hell that was known as the Liberian civil war. But you can get a glimpse of that West African nation's turn toward peace in "Pray the Devil Back to Hell," a documentary that focuses on the heroic role of women in ending the 1989-2003 conflict.

The "devil" in this telling is Charles Taylor, who ran the country during the conflict and who is now in The Hague awaiting trial on war crimes. Most of the praying comes from activists such as Leymah Gbowee of the Liberian Mass Action for Peace, who once threatened to strip at peace talks in Ghana (and thus, by regional custom, humiliating all of the men in her presence). She wound up keeping her clothes on, and Liberia wound up ending its war. And, it must be noted, then elected a woman as president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

The horror show that was the Liberian war isn't fully presented here. There is precious little attention paid to the divide between the privileged descendants of freed American slaves who founded the country (such as Taylor) and the up-country residents who suffered under their rule.

But there are enough images of gunfire and bloodied bodies to at least give an idea of the war and enough images of impoverished women standing up to thugs with guns to give an idea of how it ended.

"Peace is a process, not an event," one unnamed activist says toward the end.

Amen, sister.

-- Neely Tucker

Pray the Devil Back to Hell Unrated, 72 minutes Contains disturbing images of bloodied bodies, warfare and graphic stories of rape and torture. At Landmark's E Street Cinema.