Essential. 'The Accused' demands discussion rather than "solves the problem", because frankly, how could it? It's a candid dissection of how regularly extreme cases of violence against women are shelved and stifled by factors other that the pertinent, simply because IT'S EASIER. It's unflinching, it's complex, it upset me, it is anchored by an important relationship between women (McGillis is solid, but Foster is excellent), and - though the film teeters into the melodramatic at moments - it drove me to angry tears on multiple occasions. Constructed to enrage as well as educate, there's no hand-holding throughout this and thank God for that. The "bad guys" are not merely the rapists, but we as a collective for what we justify and thus allow to endure, whether you're male or female, a bystander in a bar, a prosecutor in a court room, a state lawmaker, a reporter delivering the evening news, or merely a viewer on the couch. At the heart of it all, there is always a woman whose life is destroyed while being reminded systematically that what happened to her "doesn't really matter". 33 years later, not a drop of this film is outdated. Fine, maybe the hairstyles. andmaybethescore.