Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Stellead Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

ThrillMessage There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Paul Allaer "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.

Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness" is a 39-minute documentary from last year written and directed by female Pakistani filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. With this one here, she already won her second Oscar after "Saving Face", a documentary short film that centers around the mutilation of females in the Middle East. And in this one here, her newest project, the subject is once again the humiliation of and discrimination against females in the Middle East. This time, the subject is a young woman named Saba who almost died at the hands of her (seemingly) beloved ones. This film is about honor killings, and in particular about a woman who was really lucky to survive it and we find out why she still manages to forgive the people who want her dead. It is a touching subject for sure and an emotional movie at times, but I personally felt that it delivered nothing really new beyond the fact that everybody (with an open mind) knows about, namely how women in the Islamic world have hardly any rights, except the right to die when they don't strictly obey to what the men in their lives have in mind about them. It's a solid watch, but an Oscar may be a bit too much I guess. I still recommend checking it out. Oh yeah, and make sure you got subtitles unless you're fluent in Panjabi.

Riaz Balouch I am fond of watching movies but its all about entertainment; nothing for to know the reality of life , when I watch A girl in the river " I felt a pain in my heart and tears in my eyes because we had no idea of those people whom are living with us but not living with life!Its a great movie against gender discrimination in our tribal traditions and some how fake Islamic scholars.These all traditions are against the Qurran & Islam.In our society there are so many other customs and values to banned the women to show their natural abilities and talent in public working field. Now a days its little bit easy to face the aggression of right wing and credit goes to those powers whom stop the Talban thoughts and trying to make Pakistan a modern liberal country where every could be live without gender, religion, language, cast, status and racial discrimination. I want to see my country a beautiful and piece full place where we could enjoy art, film, games, music,religion values with beautiful family units.

MartinHafer 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.