"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.

This documentary shows the grim reality in its entirety, so much so that we even see wounds and scars. This is what the victims see and feel every day. This film helps fight the case against these laws which allow people to get away with the most heinous crimes and even feel proud about it. No remorse from the attackers. It's frustrating to know how common and similar these stories are and how often there is no justice. I used to hear them and read about them even when growing up, yet nothing changed for the better in all these years. Why?!The problem goes further than the areas of Pakistan where this is common. Many people who originate from these places, bring such heinous views and traditions to the countries where they build a new life. Some of my family members share them, some of our Pakistani family friends agree with them. I hope films like these will help bring an important change, because too many lives have been destroyed already.

"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.

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