When you’re raised fundamentalist, it is easier to believe in demons even as you develop a more nuanced way of looking at the world so when one Sunday, my progressive, Jesus centered church suggested that there was a demon of misogyny, it made complete sense to me. Misogyny is sadly universal. It knows no borders, is ecumenical, infects all races, genders and sexual orientation and can be stubbornly immune to education. In the Name of Honor is a documentary that explores one way that the demon of misogyny rears its ugly head: the idea of honor killings. It is essentially the idea that a concept has more value than actual human lives. Even though men are also victims of honor killings, the predominant victim in the stories featured in this documentary belong to women and lack of respect for their autonomy as individuals whose bodies belong to them. Preconceptions about how women should live their lives is the sole motivation.
In the Name of Honor focuses on the phenomenon in three regions mainly to show that honor killings occur in Hindu, Christian and Muslim communities instead of the stereotype fueled by Islamophobia. Even though the reasons for these attempted and successful murders varied, the film shows that the overall modus operandi were strikingly similar. The filmmakers interviewed perpetrators, victims, family members, victim advocates, government officials and others who were willing to discuss honor killings with the filmmakers.
In the Name of Honor is a fairly standard documentary. It is an expository documentary which means that the film’s purpose is to educate the viewer. It strikes an objective pose by allowing people to present their position without challenging them even if their views are repugnant, but based on the way that the documentary is edited, it clearly sides with the victims, not the perpetrators, by shaping the overall trajectory of the film from interviews with those who are more sympathetic to those who repent of the practice. The denouement is mostly devoted to an interview with a man who committed such a crime now realizes that he was wrong. Unfortunately even the semblance of objectivity probably wouldn’t successfully challenge someone who truly believed that honor killings are a societal good. I can imagine that scoffers would just say that he got soft and lost his nerve.
In the Name of Honor probably hopes that by showing how brutal and unjust the phenomenon is, it will be enough to outrage viewers. The language bandied is maddening: “accident,” “the defense of daughters.” Language itself is twisted to disguise harsh reality. In one puzzling exchange, a couple was hanged or beheaded, but it was unclear which one actually applied. I don’t think that something was lost in translation. I think that the neighborhood was willing to gossip, but not sure which version would sound more plausible as an accident, elicit empathy and understanding instead of judgment or maybe they wanted to talk authoritatively, but actually had no knowledge to act as a foundation. When communities do try to take steps to protect the safety of women, the burden still rests on the victims’ shoulders. There is no part of society that is functioning as we imagine that it should: not families, not governments. It almost seems as if there will be retribution for anyone who stands in the way of murder.
In the Name of Honor features one story that plays like an amateur antonym of Taken. An ordinary family with presumably no experience in car jackings or kidnappings engage in both and are even willing to harm strangers to get to the offending family member, who, spoiler alert, is a woman who had the nerve to be a victim. Thankfully their greenness made them ineffective, but not by much.
Even though In the Name of Honor is short, one hour twelve minutes, it packs a powerful punch though the brief detour with a Palestinian Theater Group earnestly trying to create theater to depict this societal ill then exploring the individual theater troupe members’ opinion felt less germane than any other aspect of the documentary. I don’t recall it being visually graphic, but the stories are so though I recommend it, you have to know whether or not you can handle hearing about real life violence.
As a side note, one of the producers of In the Name of Honor was Brett Ratner. Take a brief second to do a Google search on the director of the Rush Hour franchise, Red Dragon, X-Men: The Last Stand and a panoply of music videos. I don’t normally pay close attention to credits in a documentary, but in the time of #MeToo, at worst, he is allegedly one of those guys, and at best, he enjoys outing employees which makes him homophobic. He backs a lot of good causes, but I would love to get a sneak peek into his heart. Is he trying to balance the scales from a guilty conscience or is it cover so he can personally commit more bad acts? When he helped make this movie, was he thinking, “I’m not a bad guy. I don’t do that.”
The director of In the Name of Honor, Pawel Gula, seems to be consistent in her film interests. She hasn’t directed many films and seems to have more experience as a producer and a cinematographer, but her first film is Damned to Heaven about survivors of polygamous fundamentalist Mormons. I would totally watch that film. I wouldn’t throw out the baby with the bathwater even though Ratner paid the water and heating bill. Let’s congratulate her for (hopefully) surviving her real life encounter with an alleged predator and walking away with enough money to advocate for people with few champions.
I have to applaud Gula for making a documentary like In the Name of Honor. Sunlight is the best antiseptic. By focusing a spotlight on a problem in which the entire society seems geared to protect the evildoers and somehow making most of it watchable and educational, you should definitely give it a chance if you think that you can handle it.