Lee Eisenberg Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy won an Oscar for her documentary "Saving Face", about victims of acid attacks. Her documentary "A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness" looks at so-called honor killings (the murder of a family member who is perceived to have brought shame upon the family). In this case, a girl hooked up with a man of whom her family disapproved, so they tried to kill her but she survived and filed charges against her attackers. The question then becomes whether or not she can forgive her attackers.I don't know how long honor killings have been going on. I suspect that every fundamentalist from every religion would do this sort of thing if given the chance. Whatever the case, it's an outstanding documentary drawing attention to a too often ignored problem. It deserved its Oscar win, and I hope that Obaid-Chinoy continues making these sorts of documentaries.

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "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.

simon-psykolog We follow a lovely, and at the same time incredible tough, 18 year old girl (Saba) who survives a murder attempt carried out by her father and uncle.Her crime is to have fallen in love with the boy that her family wanted as her husband. A new decision about marriage is taken but Saba follows her heart instead of her fathers rules and runs off and gets married.This act of independence is so hideous and dangerous that the only thing that can restore the family's honor is to kill her. She survives and through interviews with her, the police, a lawyer and family we start to get a picture of how women are looked at in a society that are governed by feudal laws.Especially the interview with her father and uncle in prison makes us understand that daughters should be considered being in eternal debt to their father who has worked so hard to sustain their lives. If she gets "meal three times a day" then she shouldn't ask for more.Womens rights are so neglected that if an honor killing is committed and the killer afterward are forgiven by his nearest family - then he walks free. So if Saba forgives her father then he will walk free and so the suspense starts. Will she do this or not? I will not spoil the last part of the story for you but just recommend the movie for being more than politic correct.When you see Saba together with her newly wedded husband you simply cannot understand that this marriage is looked upon as a crime.The happy end is that the movie has gotten so much attention that a fund raising has gotten the couple enough money to buy their own land./Simon

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.