Beyond Honor Reviews

Filmmaker Varun Khanna's family drama explores the consequences of an especially brutal clash of values between immigrant parents and American-born children. On the surface, Sahira Abdel-Karim (Ruth Osuna) appears to be the very picture of an immigrant-family success story: She lives with her Egyptian-born, Muslim father, Mohammed (Wadie Andrawis), and her American mother, who converted and took the name Noor (Laurel Melagrano), in a tidy home in a Southern California suburb. Beautiful, intelligent Sahira — Sahi to her friends — is a quick-witted and outgoing medical student who appears to have found a comfortable balance between the time-honored customs of modesty and obedience to her father and the many opportunities America offers. But beneath the surface lies a different picture: Mohammed is an oppressive tyrant who demands total submission from his children, sexually brutalizes his long-suffering wife and enforces his patriarchal authority with his fists. Sahi's teenaged brother, Samir (Ryan Izay), pays lip service to deference and needles Sahi with warnings that Allah is watching her, but chafes at his father's badgering and spies on his sister in secret. Sahi must beg permission to stay out late so she can do night rounds, and doesn't dare speak of her blossoming relationship with fellow medical student Brian (Jason David Smith), a supportive young man who respects and loves her. Sahi's American friends have no idea how precarious her small freedoms are, or how much she stands to lose if her father decides she's overstepped her bounds and sullied the family's honor. Unfortunately, neither does Sahi herself — after Brian betrays her secret, Mohammed and his relatives retaliate by subjecting her to traditional genital mutilation. Sahi then plots a revenge that shatters her family. Raised in Mumbai, classically trained actor-turned-writer-director Khanna addresses the volatile issue of women's rights within Islamic households, and if his sensationalistic debut feature makes its point with a heavy hand, it's also starkly provocative.