Duffy brands Netflix 'irresponsible' for picking movie '365 Days'

Duffy has criticised Netflix for ‘glamourising the brutal reality of trafficking, kidnapping and rape’ in the Polish film '365 Days'

By Web Desk
July 03, 2020

Singer Duffy has criticised Netflix for streaming the Polish film '365 Days', branding it 'irresponsible' for "glamourising the brutal reality of sex trafficking, kidnapping and rape".

The movie, which has become the most watched film on the platform, tells the tale of a woman who has been kidnapped and imprisoned by a man who gives her a year to fall in love with him.

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Duffy, who was held captive and raped a decade ago, said: "This should not be anyone's idea of entertainment, nor should it be described as such." She urged fans to reconsider how they view it after opening up on her own ordeal.

The singer, in February, opened up on her decade-long absence from music, saying that she had been kidnapped and held hostage for a number of days, a period during which she was drugged and raped.

Adapted from a novel by Polish writer Blanka Lipińska, '365 Days' was not produced by Netflix, but was picked up by the streaming service in June.

In a letter to Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings, the singer wrote: "I don’t want to be in this position to have to write to you, but the virtue of my suffering obliges me to do so, because of a violent experience that I endured of the kind that you have chosen to present as ‘adult erotica’.

She went on to say: “It grieves me that Netflix provides a platform for such ‘cinema’, that eroticises kidnapping and distorts sexual violence and trafficking as movie. I just can’t imagine how the streaming giant could overlook how careless, insensitive, and dangerous this is."

She continued: “It has even prompted some young women, recently, to jovially ask Michele Morrone, the lead actor in the film, to kidnap them."

She added: "We all know Netflix would not host material glamorizing paedophilia, racism, homophobia, genocide, or any other crimes against humanity. The world would rightly rise up and scream.

"Tragically, victims of trafficking and kidnapping are unseen, and yet in 365 Days their suffering is made into a 'erotic drama', as described by Netflix."

Her comments came after a petition was set up on Change.org, calling for the movie to be removed from Netflix for "perpetuating the glamorisation of rape culture".

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