Cut: Exposing FGM Worldwide

In my opinion, the successful completion of this self produced documentary "CUT: EXPOSING FGM WORLDWIDE", puts filmmaker John Chua, in the conversation for being one of the most fearless documentary filmmakers fighting for human rights of this past decade. He is one of the ONLY male filmmakers in history to address this horrific subject of FGM happening WORLDWIDE in the form of a documentary feature. "CUT: EXPOSING FGM WORLDWIDE" is a remarkable example of how one person can use documentary filmmaking as a tool to raise consciousness in this distracted world oversaturated with entertainment media. I hope everyone who reads this review watches and shares this powerful historic documentary achievement, so that someday soon, this global horrific epidemic of FGM will be abolished forever!

I watched this documentary when I was eating. However, the content made me feel that I can not eat any more because the topic was so tough.This movie made me realize that FGM is not a small incident, it is very common all over the world. The most frightening thing is that when I listen to them explain the reasons, I think what they said is actually very reasonable. If I were an obedient girl, I might also obey the demands of my elders and think this is an operation that everyone needs to do.I think we need to do more, just like this documentary filmed by Director Chua. We need to get more people to pay attention to this topic and let more people take action to resist such behavior. The most important thing is to let the new generation of young girls realize that this is the wrong operation and that they shouldn't have it.

Before watching this documentary, I had no idea about FGM. When I saw how FGM was going, I was shocked. I did not expect FGM to be so wide across the world, nor did I expect that there would be women who would support this FGM practice to continue to be implemented on their daughters. After watching this film, I think that more people should be made aware of the existence of FGM, and more women should be made aware of their bodies and their control over their bodies. The existence of FGM illustrates the long-term oppression and silence of women in the patriarchal society. This kind of wrong information and practice was actually acquiesced by a woman's father, husband, and son, and was regarded as an honor. Masculinism has manifested its various ways of presentation in different cultures. In ancient China, foot binding was also practice similar to FGM. Girls have wrapped their feet in cloth since they were young because ancient men believed that women's feet should be small, which is a deformed beauty. Just like FGM, foot binding is an oppression of women's body and power. This film is really great, it deserves to be known by more people, and it will benefit more people.

I can't even be distracted for a moment when watching this documentary. I can't remember if I've ever heard of such a tragedy from any piece of news, but I'm sure I never realized how pervasive FGM is until I watched the film. It's an extreme tragedy to be born as woman in such a tradition, but it seems that living in a culture that treats women inhumanely has desensitized most women of that culture. We can find that a fixed and programmed culture has great control and restraint over the values, beliefs and behaviors of the people living in it, and it is extremely difficult to break out of such a cultural framework.

In addition, I also admire the prescient and revelatory nature of this documentary. If there is no resistance, tradition will always be orthodox, no matter it is righteous or evil, progressive or decaying. It is not easy to walk among different groups and communicate with people from different languages, cultures and beliefs. Therefore, I regard this documentary as a ray of light for the emancipation of women suffering from the torture of female circumcision. I hope this documentary can be known by more people, so as to play a larger role.

More than a year ago, under the guidance of filmmaker John Chua, I watched this film, and for the first time came into contact with this cruel world that was completely different from my cultural environment. It is undeniable that for those ethnic groups and tribes that are prevalent in FGM, this is a sign of girls becoming women, and it is an inherent part of their ethnic and tribal culture and ethics.

However, as a woman, when I see FGM still exists in the world, I can only feel the creeps. What's more terrifying is that many women have gradually forgotten to resist in the highly masculine society and the long years, but have accepted FGM and implemented it on their daughters or younger generations. Sadly, just like the bad habits of foot-binding in ancient China, this is not something that can be solved by relying solely on policies and regulations and Western human rightsists. We still need a longer time to work.