Off Topic The Review Thread
- Thread starter Stroller
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Watched a shocking documentary set in Pakistan last night, called "The Girl in the River - The Price of Forgiveness". It won an Oscar in 2016.
For those who haven't seen it, the facts are these:
* A young woman in her early 20's falls in love with a man from a poorer family than hers. Her family disapprove and insist that she marries her uncle's brother in law.
* The young woman sneaks from her house, goes to her boyfriend's and they marry in haste
* The woman's father and uncle visit the young woman on the same day, she about to live with her in laws. They want her to come back to her family for the time being and give an oath on the Koran that they won't harm her.
* She agrees to go, the father and uncle take her to a river, beat her, shoot her in the arm and the head and throw her in the fast flowing river, leaving her for dead
* The bullet to her head has in fact missed her skull when she averted her face, but has left a motorway scar down her cheek. She regains consciousness in the water and in the dark, manages to pull herself from the water.
* While she is in hospital, the father and uncle are traced and imprisoned pending trial for attempted murder
Now here's the shocking bit. In Pakistan, if relatives carry out an "honour killing or attempted killing", they can be forgiven by other relatives and will not face trial. So now the young woman, who moves in with her in laws, is placed under huge pressure by her family, local elders and ultimately, her in laws to forgive her attackers and forget. The young woman fears that if she refuses and her father and brother get a small jail sentence, they will come out and hunt her down. Without her agreement, her lawyer is changed to one sympathetic with the 2 attempted killers and ultimately, she agrees to forgive. The two attackers are released.
Another shocking bit. The father is jubilant and boasts on camera that he is now a highly respected man in his community because he stood up to the disrespectful and dishonourable act by his daughter to leave home and marry whom she wanted.
The young woman is left wondering whether the father and uncle will try again to kill her.
The basic problem here is Pakistani law. Allowing families to forgive heinous acts within that family, often after considerable tribal pressure on those with the power of forgiveness and threats of later vengeance if forgiveness is not forthcoming, is a law rotten to the core. What kind of unjust society does that perpetuate? The finger must be pointed at politicians in Pakistan - I hope this Oscar winning documentary has embarrassed them into action - and in the UK, we should remember this case when those of Pakistani origin seek to set up Sharia Law in their community.
For those who haven't seen it, the facts are these:
* A young woman in her early 20's falls in love with a man from a poorer family than hers. Her family disapprove and insist that she marries her uncle's brother in law.
* The young woman sneaks from her house, goes to her boyfriend's and they marry in haste
* The woman's father and uncle visit the young woman on the same day, she about to live with her in laws. They want her to come back to her family for the time being and give an oath on the Koran that they won't harm her.
* She agrees to go, the father and uncle take her to a river, beat her, shoot her in the arm and the head and throw her in the fast flowing river, leaving her for dead
* The bullet to her head has in fact missed her skull when she averted her face, but has left a motorway scar down her cheek. She regains consciousness in the water and in the dark, manages to pull herself from the water.
* While she is in hospital, the father and uncle are traced and imprisoned pending trial for attempted murder
Now here's the shocking bit. In Pakistan, if relatives carry out an "honour killing or attempted killing", they can be forgiven by other relatives and will not face trial. So now the young woman, who moves in with her in laws, is placed under huge pressure by her family, local elders and ultimately, her in laws to forgive her attackers and forget. The young woman fears that if she refuses and her father and brother get a small jail sentence, they will come out and hunt her down. Without her agreement, her lawyer is changed to one sympathetic with the 2 attempted killers and ultimately, she agrees to forgive. The two attackers are released.
Another shocking bit. The father is jubilant and boasts on camera that he is now a highly respected man in his community because he stood up to the disrespectful and dishonourable act by his daughter to leave home and marry whom she wanted.
The young woman is left wondering whether the father and uncle will try again to kill her.
The basic problem here is Pakistani law. Allowing families to forgive heinous acts within that family, often after considerable tribal pressure on those with the power of forgiveness and threats of later vengeance if forgiveness is not forthcoming, is a law rotten to the core. What kind of unjust society does that perpetuate? The finger must be pointed at politicians in Pakistan - I hope this Oscar winning documentary has embarrassed them into action - and in the UK, we should remember this case when those of Pakistani origin seek to set up Sharia Law in their community.
...and some of these, er...standards have found their way over here via immigration.
At the wifes behest, we watched I, Tonya last night - never thought I'd say this of a film about figure skating, but it was brilliant - some superb acting performances with Tonya Hardings mother the pick of the bunch - fully recommended.
Yes, I've heard good things about this film. Quite an achievement for Margot Robbie, who was a producer as well as starring in the film.
Just catching up on the OGWT show. Know what you mean about Numan’s syrups. He was quite famous back in the day for hair transplants and light aircraft emergency landings, wasn’t he? There was a BBC documentary a little while ago about him putting his ‘Splinter’ album together, which I enjoyed so much I bought the LP and rather enjoyed that too. The track on the OGWT is from his follow up to that, I think, which I’ve heard on Spotify and think rather likeable as well. Guess I’m a fan.
Kraftwerk were a bit of a laugh, but couldn’t really patch into them in the same way as (say) The Human League, Ultravox or Talk Talk.
Did you see the Synth Britannia documentary that Stroller referred to? Really good, though I’m not a huge synth aficionado. All those British bands reference Kraftwerk who were years ahead of the rest, and surprisingly funky when listened to loud. Early Human League was genuinely odd and interesting as well. But it all blended into the over produced 80s for me, New Order, if you count them as a synth band, about the only ones I stuck with although there is a song called Stanlow by Orchestral Manouevres in the Dark that I love. Might put it on the music thread. It’s about an oil refinery.
I loved OMD, but I'm not sure I know the track you're referring to. I'll have to check it out. Synth Britannia was a little bit of a fraud in that it included bands like Roxy and New Order that I wouldn't have categorized that way. Good telly though.
Just watched true grit again for the first time in ages
Still a great movie
Still a great movie
Action Team, from the people that brought you Murder In Successville. Just watched the first episode and it passed the six laughs test. Very good.
nice one!Has anyone ever been to Nashville? I have to spend a weekend in Indianapolis early next month, a town which I know very well already, and was planning to drive up to Chicago, but it has been suggested to me that Nashville might be a good alternative for the music, food and it’s life size replica of the Parthenon. Tempted but it’s a four hour drive, only 3 to Chicago where I am guaranteed to enjoy myself.
Missed the start of the Van the Man concert, so I'm recording it (do people still say that?). There was a Classis Artists thing featuring Yes the other day that I've saved too. Looking forward to that.
Here's the thing, though - we have a Virgin box, which they want to replace/upgrade because it's going to explode soon or something, but when they do that you lose all the stuff you've saved. That can't be right.
That seems a bit unfair. No way to transfer it to a PC or something?
Van’s voice is really top notch in this concert, not sure how long ago it was filmed. He smiled at one stage as well. I’ve seen him live 3 times and think I’ve covered all the bases with him - one thoroughly professional gig, one storming one (with Georgie Fame playing the organ) and one when he stomped off in a sulk after 20 minutes, apparently because he didn’t like the sound. All memorable.