rakontur blog

Raw Deal: A Question of Consent

Directed by Billy Corben

The sexually correct “no-means-no” ideology of contemporary dating takes on new meaning in Miami producers Alfred Spellman and Billy Corben’s politically and emotionally charged documentary, “Raw Deal: A Question of Consent.” The film explores a sordid night in February, 1999, when a group of Delta Chi frat boys at the University of Florida hired a pair of strippers for an alcohol-soaked after-pledge party. The next morning, Lisa Gier King ran from the frat house, alleging she had been raped. When police investigated, they found that the party boys had videotaped the evening’s “revelries.” The tape led to King’s arrest for making a false accusation. The result: a massive media outcry from victims and feminist advocates.

The extreme nature of what happened at the frat house that night makes the story difficult to tell. Director Corben edits the interview footage with finesse. When we are finally shown the contents of the “rape sequence” at length, it is not easy to watch. Rarely has sex looked so ugly.

The genuine creepiness of accused attacker Michael Yahraus, the way in which the Alachua County State Attorney’s office refused to cooperate with the filmmakers, the sliminess of Delta Chi pledge master Anthony Marzullo, and King’s wide-eyed insistence that she had been victimized all slant viewer sympathies in her direction. But should they?

This is a film that winds up chronicling the netherworld between consensual sex and rape. Perhaps unconsciously, “Raw Deal” plants the idea that our society might need another word for a physical act between two adults that isn’t quite rape but isn’t quite consenting sex either. And, for that, “Raw Deal” offers up a redeeming value.