A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness

"A Girl In the River: The Price of Forgiveness" (2015 release; 40 min.) is a short documentary about Saba, a 19 yr. old lady from Gujranwala, Pakistan. As the documentary opens, Saba is on an operating table and attended to by a doctor. The doctor shares some graphic/stomach-turning pictures as to Saba's original wounds to her face. It's not long before we learn that she was shot by her father and uncle, who actually tried to kill her for something Saba did that (allegedly) dishonors her family. What did Saba do? What will become of her father and uncle? To tell you more of the facts would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is another documentary by acclaimed director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. She previously won an Oscar for Best Short Documentary for 2012's "Saving Face", a feat she would eventually repeat with this film. She is known for her activism to showcase the inequality of women in Pakistani society. Here she tackles a particular egregious topic: the so-called 'honor-killings' (of which more than 1,000 take place each year, we are reminded at the beginning of the movie). We get to know Saba, as well as her immediate family and the family of her husband, all of which speak on record and fully convinced that their personal opinion is the one and only correct (if not righteous) one. The suffocating "mores" of Pakistani society (never mind what the law actually says) is hard for anyone in the US to fully grasp and understand. But it makes for a jaw-dropping viewing experience. If I have one criticism of this documentary, it is that there is so much material to cover, that the documentary frankly feels rushed at a running time of just 40 min. I don't think it would've been all that hard to stretch this out to a feature-length documentary.

I recently stumbled onto this film while browsing the documentary section of HBO on Demand. So glad I found this. No, this does not make for "fun" viewing but it is all the more ESSENTIAL viewing. last and certainly not least, major kudos to Saba for her bravery to speak out. "A Girl in the River" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

From my home in New Orleans I watched this documentary through teary eyes, anger, fear, helplessness, and hopeful that this woman's story will touch each and every person that watches it. Her bravery and will-to-live is very empowering. Eventhough I wished the laws in her country would've protected her more and others that will find themselves in this particular situation. She is still a hero in my eyes. I pray for her protection and many blessings to Saba and her husband and to their bundle of joy.

The Girl in the River - for me - is a film about the miracle, first and foremost. Because not everybody who can survive after gunshot in the face, and bag over head, and drowning. The young woman survived. And yet. The film shows forgiveness under pressure from the surrounding society. Not natural forgiveness. The troubled society shown in the film was simply trying to find balance. That's all. That's why the girl was pressured to forgive her father. Nothing changed inside the people. The situation didn't teach them anything. But I hope this film will teach us something. After watching the film, I looked for information about what happened to Saba and her husband 10 years after the filming of the film. I want to believe that they are doing well.

This film is set in Pakistan and is about so-called 'honor killings'--when families murder their own daughters in order to save face with their neighbors. The particular subject of this film is a young lady named Saba. Saba married a man despite her family not giving her permission and her father and uncle dealt with it by shooting her and dumping her into the river. However, Saba's case is unusual because she actually survived the gunshot to her face and the film follows the case through the Pakistani court and to its ultimate resolution...or lack of resolution. The film is hellaciously depressing but fortunately the gunshot wound isn't as horrible to see post-surgically as you might imagine and Saba is rather inspiring because of her inner strength. It's also an amazing film because everyone talks so openly about what occurred and the father seems incredibly proud of his actions and by the end of the film he is elated that he maintained his sense of honor by trying to murder his daughter.

By the way, if you are curious, the filmmakers and folks they interviewed were careful to reiterate that these honor killings are not in any way approved of in the Koran but are more cultural than religious in nature.

UPDATE: This film did take the Oscar for Best Documentary Short.

This movie documents the outcome for one young lady within the judicial system after an honor killing. Coming out of this, I had to keep in mind that this is one story coming out Pakistan and having never visited Pakistan, I'm unsure of how indicative it is of the country's whole society. What happened to Saba was horrendous and the movie portrays honor killings as common and are only increasing based on current laws. While the laws give more weight to men and treats women as second class citizens, the movie does give hope that there's people who're trying to change the laws. One thing that I think this movie does well is that it interviews both Saba, the family she married into, as well as Saba's immediate family. The interviewers were also able to talk to the police and Saba's original lawyer, prior to the elders giving her a new one and were able to talk with the elders of the community. With that said, I think that the movie was too short to give a full picture of all of the judicial proceedings and the discussions happing.