Because We Are Girls

Peeling the layers of an onion as you cry . This is the best way I can describe this film. So much discussion can be had after you watch this. I see it firstly as an immigrant story of survival to make a life in Canada. I see happiness , I see absolute despair and dysfunction. I see bravery , I see hope . So many emotions. Please try to watch this film .

I just witnessed your painful account of abuse and lack of support from your own family. You girls are true warriors and I've never felt so ashamed of our culture before (although this happens in every culture!) but we only ought to defend our's and similarly can blame our's too. I am so so sorry for everything you girls went through and I just hope things get better for you. He will rot in hell if not in Jail!! Lots of love and hugs xxxx

I don't think I've cried this much in a long time.The horror they went through and then to just see what they had to go through once the parents found out is so heartbreaking .They had absolutely no fault in this and yet they bore the consequences and yet still turned out to be such beautiful,inspiring,and sincere. You can just see how genuine each sister is.I don't know them but each time one cried I couldn't help but cry too.Im so glad they had one another and pray they find the peace and happiness they deserved from day one !As a mother of 2 girls,one dreams of raising them with this much courage and strength. They are truly inspirational!

Now that I've seen the film, I can only say I feel proud and grateful. I'm proud of and grateful to the three Pooni sisters for sharing their story in this film, proud of the director, Baljit Sangra's work, and of Canada's National Film Board, for producing it. It's a beautiful, moving film. The three sisters are such a lovely example of women's caring for each other and for others. At the screening I attended in Vancouver hosted by Reel Causes they participated in a post-film Q&A with the director and a rep from the charitable beneficiary of the screening, Family Services of Greater Vancouver. I'm also grateful to my parents for never making me feel less important to them for being female. In so many families, not all of them from other places in the world, this isn't always the case. The particular screening I attended was a mostly female audience and all I can say is the men missed out tonight.

From the opening frames, I realized this wasn't the kind of film I was expecting it to be. In some aspects, it's a quintessentially Canadian or North American immigrant family story. The early narrative helps draw us into this Punjabi-Canadian family's situation when the sisters were young, including the prejudice and shaming they faced for being in a visible minority. Steeled for details of sexual abuse that were almost entirely absent from the film, I saw and heard instead a tale of three girls becoming women in a challenging set of circumstances. How they love each other and what they do with those circumstances is inspiring, not depressing, though you can expect to be moved to tears at times.

This is a totally devastating, and unbelievably curated, recollection of a truly horrific trauma. There are scenes that are so sincerely raw and investigative, in terms of family reaction/confrontation, it has garnered a full 100% recommendation from my critical ass.