'Pray the Devil Back to Hell' reaches new audiences with Global Peace Tour

By Sarah Sluis

Screener had the opportunity to interview director Gini Reticker, whose documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell has returned to the big screen, and is now being shown by groups across America this September as part of a Global Peace Tour.

Since Pray the Devil Back to Hell's debut at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2008, which was followed by a fall theatrical release, the film has been seen across the globe. Reticker describes her filmmaking style as "looking for things that are universal...what people have in common rather than what separates us," but she too has been astonished by the far-reaching, diverse audience that has embraced the film. Security guards during the Tribeca festival spotted each other so they could sneak in and watch the film, a social worker wanted to show it to her patients who were drug addicts, and it's scheduled to be broadcast over television in Burma.

In Liberia itself, where the documentary takes place, the film has inspired new recognition for the women who fought for peace in their country. Their story, which was on the verge of being lost by time, has been preserved, ensuring the women a place in the country's history books. For those unfamiliar with the documentary, (read the FJI review here and our profile here) Pray the Devil Back to Hell reconstructs the plight of a group of women who became activists to stop the civil war in Liberia. Both sides looted and raped villagers, and enlisted boys to serve as soldiers. The women, who came from all religious backgrounds, banded together, not taking sides, but simply asking for peace. And it worked.

With its inspiring story, Pray the Devil Back to Hell sounds like the ultimate grassroots film, but a traditional specialty rollout release did not adequately meet demand for the feature. "The thing about documentaries," Reticker explains, is that "you never play long enough in any city. By the time you build an audience, you're closing." The answer to that was a "semi-theatrical tour, so that people who heard about the film and wanted to bring it to their organizations could use it." Over 200 cities are screening Pray the Devil as part of the Global Peace Tour, which is centered around the United Nations' International Day of Peace on September 21st. Churches, schools, universities, film societies, and even the United Nations and World Bank will screen the film. For Reticker, the "phenomenal" response is incredibly rewarding to her as a filmmaker, "because it's extending the life of the movie in a really different way." The non-traditional venues still contribute to the film's revenue, as each organization will pay for the rental of the film.

The success of the documentary has spawned a series on WNET. The public broadcasting station picked up the film and has commissioned four more hours of television about activist women. Reitcker hopes to explore different geographical areas in the series. She also credits producer Abigail Disney for the "tremendous amount of energy and effort she made to make sure the film is seen...she's the one who spearheaded the distribution movement completely," trying to show the film in as many places as possible. Indeed, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton mentioned the film recently, and several of September's screenings have been scheduled by Washington D.C.-based human rights and policy organizations. Even those on the "other side" have seen the movie. While at a screening at the Hague, a man came up to Reticker after the panel discussion, telling her how much he enjoyed the film, but that he thought the root cause of the problem was poverty. Reticker, who believes that these wars are because of corruption and greed, explained her opinion. The man turned out to be the lawyer defending Charles Taylor, the ex-leader of Liberia, from his war crimes charges.

Pray the Devil Back to Hell's popularity among groups and organizations comes from its sense of universality. While these women's lives and experiences differ dramatically from most of those in the audience, the women seem like people you could know. Their methods of protest seem attainable. They conduct sit-ins, wear the same clothing, and use the media to communicate their message, simple protests that had a big impact. "I start the film with a woman saying that her child was hungry and wanted a donut and she couldn't feed it," Reticker points out, a universal story that helps people identify with the women. She also tried to "make it a war movie, give it the rhythm of a war movie, and make the viewer involved in a fight between good and evil...It's kind of a war story told from the point of view of women who are fighting for peace."

For those who see Pray the Devil Back to Hell on the Global Peace Tour, the communal experience will offer an opportunity to engage with like-minded people and think of how you, too, could enact change. If the women of Liberia did it, the documentary seems to say, you can too. Find a screening near you here.