DVD Honour

(Originally posted on CandidOnline.com on Apr 3, 2014)

It is thought that up to 12 honour killings happen each year in the UK. Honour killings are violent acts of vengeance, committed by male family members against female relatives who allegedly brought dishonour upon the family. Refusing to enter into an arranged marriage, being the victim of a sexual assault, seeking a divorce and committing adultery are all valid reasons to sentence a family member to death.

Honour presents the story of Mona, a young and beautiful Muslim British girl who lives with her (originally Pakistani) family in London. Since her dad passed away, she has been sharing the house with her strict mother and her two brothers: Kasim, a policeman who tries to play the worthy head of the household, and Adel, the naïve younger brother. Mona is all but submissive; she works as estate agent, wears heels, refuses to wear a headscarf. It is thanks to her job that she meets Tanvir, a Punjabi colleague whom she falls in love with. Due to the fundamental incompatibility between their cultural and religious backgrounds, they decide for a reckless getaway. This is too much for her family to bear, and the film opens with what seems to be the ending, the same ending many young girls still endure: Mona is attacked by her family.

The plot unfolds in a non-linear way: many details of Mona's life roll on the big screen, all contributing to give depth to her doomed character. The expedient works only partially, making you wonder if this is just a trick to make up for the plot's lack of complexity. But the rhythm is engaging; the more we learn about Mona, the more we want her to escape from the gloominess that dominates her life. One of the main characters who cross Mona's path is Paddy Considine's (Hot Fuzz, The Bourne Ultimatum, director of the acclaimed Tyrannosaur) Bounty Hunter, hired directly by her mother to track her and bring her home; this is just one of many dirty affairs he settles for a living. "You understand: do what you must do", demands the tyrannical woman as she offers him a bundle of money. A sinister doubt arises: is this scene really taking place before the attack on Mona's life? Honour tackles a difficult topic that not many films have addressed before, and partially hits the mark. It tells a striking, riveting tale of hate and longing for freedom, and raises numerous questions on cultures that legitimise violence as a valid solution to problems. This is a harsh critique to both sides: Asian and Muslim culture, and the Western world's cult of money. Honour also hints at the possibility of redemption: Adel resigns himself to his family's demands, but he understands his sister's need for a different life; even the ruthless and shady Bounty Hunter starts questioning his priorities.

Both their roles, however, are hardly as substantial as the director, newcomer Shan Khan, may have intended. His choice to give a commercial appeal to the film spoils its credibility: by trying to soften the tone, he ends up watering down the story that kept us on the edge of our seats. It's only fair to doubt the authenticity of a project that exploits one of the most dramatic modern tragedies to create easy-going entertainment. Ironically, when the thriller plot kicks in, we can't help but wonder what happened to the interesting film we were watching half an hour earlier.

Honour starts off interesting enough; a young woman Mona (Aiysha Hart) is living at home with her mother and 2 brothers Kasim (Faraz Ayub) and Adel (Shubham Saraf). Mona lives with her strict and devout Muslim mother (Harvey Virdi), who resents Mona for not following her lead – she refuses to speak her native tongue, she also refuses to wear a headscarf etc. Things become worse for Mona when she meets and falls in love with Tanvir (Nikesh Patel). Her family refuse to accept the fact that she intends to marry this man due to the fact that Tanvir isn't one of their own. However, Mona refuses to listen to her family and consequently goes on the run. Mona's mother hires Bounty Hunter (Paddy Considine)to find her daughter and bring her back home.

I think the main reason I was disappointed with this is that it just wasn't what I was expecting (unfortunately not in a good way). I expected an edge of your seat 'cat and mouse' chase involving The Bounty Hunter and Mona, but what I actually got was a boring film that took a very long time to not really go anywhere. I thought that the pace would pick up once Considine's character was introduced, but as soon as he started saying 'This is one last job' and 'My heart's not in this anymore' or words to that effect that it would be predictable that he would decide to help Mona. Whilst it was nice to see Considine helping her out, it meant that the film ended up lacking any tension and the film was less enjoyable as a result.

The film was shot out of sequence where the end of the film is shown at the beginning. I didn't mind the fact that the film was shot out of sequence because the film wasn't difficult to follow, but I personally just found it to be far too repetitive and found that it never really got going. None of the characters had much depth to them which didn't help as I found myself not caring for any of the characters on screen. The chemistry between Mona and Tanvir was quite poor and I wasn't convinced by their romance whatsoever.

There were other minor things that annoyed me such as Mona's mother giving Mona a hard time for speaking in English rather than her mother's native tongue, but then a bit later in the film Mona's mother starts talking in English. That just didn't make much sense to me. The whole murder scene involving Mona was a bit stupid as well – they strangle her and assume her to be dead, they then carry her body to the woods in a box. However, when Adel opens the box, Mona lashes out at him and makes good her escape. It is obvious that she was playing dead, but I found it hard to believe that nobody thought to check her pulse before they put her in the box. I'll admit that her escape came as a bit of a surprise, but I was still a little bit disappointed due to how contrived it felt.

Considine is likely to be the only recognisable face in this film for most people and he does an OK job here (although I personally feel that this is far from his best work). Everyone else was OK, but there weren't any standout performances.

Honour had the potential to be a great film; the premise was good, but I found the film to be far too repetitive and boring for the most part. Even when Considine was introduced, the film still didn't really go anywhere – he finds her far too easily and then decides to help her. This to me doesn't make for a particularly 'thrilling' film. Again this twist was nice, but it made the film a lot less exciting and a lot less tense than it could have been.

The only positives from this film come in the last 10-15 minutes. In these final few minutes, the film had a bit of tension and energy which was severely lacking in the rest of the film. I also like the message behind the film and it will no doubt help to open people's eyes to the appalling treatment which still occurs to some Muslim women. It's just a shame that for the most part that Honour was so boring.