A STORY THAT NEEDS TO BE HEARD : "SAVING FACE"

There are problems with award ceremonies like Oscars®. I mean, I’m not going to go through the entire list right now, but one thing I’m thinking of is categories like Best Documentary. The “big” categories get so much attention that some rather brilliant things are being awarded, yet completely ignored. I bumped into “Saving Face” when I was lazily switching channels one evening. “Oscar Winning Documentary” it said. To my embarrassment, I had never heard of it. I was embarrassed for two reasons, firstly because I’m supposed to be a film expert of sorts. Secondly, the story the documentary tells us is simply so tragic and so serious that I just felt that, you know. I should have known about it. Maybe I can make up for that by putting it up on the blog. Hopefully I can.

The documentary follows Dr Mohammed Jawad, one of the top plastic surgeons in the UK. He heads to Pakistan, where every year over 100 people (and that’s only the ones we know about) are victims of acid attacks. Acid is readily available in Pakistan as it is one of the products used to work with cotton, one of the most important agricultural products of the country. This means that it is the weapon of choice for violent husbands or other family members to use on women. These women suffer terrible facial scarring from the acid which is in itself debilitating and very hard to cope with, but the disfigurement also gives them physical pain and health issues. Dr Jawad, and the audience, follows some of their stories.

I cannot begin to accurately describe how difficult it is to watch this documentary. There were bits I could barely watch from crying. I feel it is incredibly important for documentaries like this to be made. The first step in tackling this kind of problem is raising awareness. And I mean, I knew acid attacks happened in Pakistan.  But in this matter, I have the slight advantage of having lived in a more eastern country for most of my life. And even there, it rarely makes headline news. The further west you come, the less you hear about it. But even the concept of “they have acid attacks in Pakistan” isn’t enough to describe the horrors that these attacks produce. And the victims of the attacks are fighting back, they’re trying anyway. Laws significantly punishing the perpetrators of these attacks significantly are relatively new. The victims of these attacks often have to fight great social stigma, not least because of their looks that have been drastically altered. Slowly, a few brave women are taking the attackers to court, trying to get them convicted. Then there are people like Dr Jawad who do wonderful things for the victims they can reach. But there is still so much to be done. Especially considering these are just the ones we know about, and most of them still go unreported.

I feel that we really owe it to these women to at least listen to their story. Who knows maybe you might be motivated to actively do something, even if it’s just a small donation? But even if you don’t, at least knowledge of what is going on is spreading. Awareness and education is the one way to fight this. And just because it may well be the other end of the earth from where we live, well… That is no reason not to care… 

KEEP THE TISSUES HANDY... IT'S TIME FOR "THE KITE RUNNER"

I have been bitterly BITTERLY neglecting the “literature” side of this little fellow… This is why my update this week will be based mainly around books – there will even be an actual book in it! But before that, let’s cast our eyes over this little gem. Now I had read Khalid Husseini’s absolutely marvelous work “The Kite Runner” a while back – though why I never put it on the blog escapes me – and loved it. It made perfect sense that such a touching and emotionally rich work should be adapted to the big screen. The only surprise is that I had never actually heard of it until I was sheltering from the rain in a foreign country in a large bookstore. I didn’t speak the language; however, that DVD cover could have only meant one thing… A quick scan of the credit block behind (always has to contain the original name you see) confirmed my suspicion. And that is how me, my mother and my grandmother ended up watching said film a couple of weeks later… I am happy to let you know THIS is an adaptation that worked out at any rate…
I suppose I should give you a quick scan of the story. Luckily, the film adaptation is very faithful to the actual book, so if you have read the book, you can watch it in peace… Now, we are transported back to Afghanistan in the late 70’s. Before all the troubles began, before the Taliban, even before the Soviets… Amir is a little boy of around 10. His mother died when she was giving birth to him and he is being brought up by his father, a rich and powerful man who believes in “tough love” and all other things “manly”. Amir is a sensitive soul –even a bit of an artist, he tries to write, does not like playing rough with the other kids. He even gets pushed around a bit but his best friend Hassan, who is the son of his father’s servant Ali, always comes to his rescue, much to his father’s disgust… Their peaceful existence will be disrupted by two events… One that bitterly fractures the two children’s friendship (which I will leave you to discover in detail) and a second that threatens their very existence: The Soviet invasion. Amir’s father is known – renowned – for hating communists so he takes his son and everything he can realistically carry and leaves for a new beginning in the new world – America. The two will get there and even have their fresh start but then one day, the past contacts the now fully grown Amir on the phone… “There is a way to be good again” says the voice… “You need to come back”…
Approach this film with PLENTY of tissues. No matter where you look in this film, you will find a deep and real emotion that touches your soul. Add to that it's Oscar nominated soundtrack and you have nowhere to hide basically... The day to day life in Afghanistan before the troubles began. The relationship between Amir and his father – who often fluctuates between being proud of his son and wanting to give him a firm shake to “man him up”. I won’t even begin on Hassan and Amir. The film gets its name from a tradition of the area that I honestly didn’t know about before – kite tournaments. It’s a big thing apparently, every year the children of the area get together with carefully and lovingly prepared kites… The strings are reinforced with broken glass and glue paste. The aim is to use various tricks to cut the strings of the other kites and be the last kite standing. Kite running is the act of catching the kite that has been cut – finders, keepers. In our case, Amir being the master of the house, Hassan is the kite “runner” and the best in town too… Another fair warning I should give you is that you will find this film tough viewing on some counts – and there are many possible “counts”… A modern classic all the same though – not to be missed…