HONOUR

UK, 2012, 104 minutes, Colour.
Aiysha Hart, Paddy Considine, Faraz Ayub, Shubham Saraf, Harvey Virdi.
Directed by Shan Khan.

Honour takes up the theme of the deaths of women in Asian families, women who are considered to a shame the family. An epilogue to this film indicates that 5000 women are killed each year for these reasons.

The setting is London, the suburb of Southall, and the Pakistani community. The film shows a very strict family, speaking Urdu at home, watching Pakistani television programs. The father is dead, the mother is a strict disciplinarian, the older brother, despite working as a policeman in the area and fitting in, he is fanatic in his devotion to traditions. The younger brother is caught up in all of this but is basically unwilling.

The focus is on Mona, the young woman in a relationship and pregnant, planning to move away with the man, though he backs out because of comments by family and friends. Mona’s mother and brother strangle her and put her in a box, take it out into the countryside to bury her. But, she is not dead, and flees to a refuge in central London.

The other main character is a bounty hunter, initially white supremacist, played by Paddy Considine, who is employed by the family to track Mona down. He himself was in crisis, wanting to move out from his work and change perspective, finding Mona, sheltering her, giving false information to the family. However, there is a final rooftop confrontation, shootings leaving Mona to get out of England, going to a home that the bounty hunter had bought and bequeathed to her.

The film will be received in different ways by particular audiences, Pakistani British audience reacting to their own experiences, other British audiences thinking about different traditions and applications of law.

Some of the sequences are particularly vivid, especially the attempt on Mona’s life, as well as some melodrama of the final rooftop shootings.

1. The title, families, Pakistani backgrounds? Asian traditions? In the United Kingdom?

2. The atmosphere of London, Southall, the homes, the streets, the use of language, Urdu television, Customs? Within the context of ordinary traditional British life? The shops, the police, the butcher, the refuges? The feel of the situation? The musical score?

3. Audience reaction to the honour theme? The final information about 5000 girls killed each year by their families? The nature of these traditions, in relationship to the law? Misogyny? Women as victims? For honour’s sake?

4. Mona, her life, her brothers, the stern mother, memories of her dead father? Her relationship, boyfriend, pregnancy? The plan, her packing, meeting with the fiance, his opting out? Going home, watching the television, the talk? Her brother and mother and the attempt to strangle her? Her emptying the box, her being put in the box?

5. The character of the mother, hard, assisting in the attempted killing? The older brother, his severity, use of Urdu, use of English, colloquial and swearing? The youngest brother, caught, reluctant?

6. The bounty hunter, his history, his tatoo, White supremacist? His work, commissions, the liaison’s with the Pakistani community? The money for searching for Mona, his detecting skills, his associates? The pursuit, finding Mona? His talking with the family, the brother seeking him out in offering more money, his opting out?

7. The box, taken into the countryside for burial, the two brothers, the shovels? Mona and her being alive, the attack with the knife, her escape, the pursuit? In the city, the streets, going to the refuge? Hungry, the diners? The bounty hunter finding her, rescued from the thugs? Her seeing her photo in his pocket, going to the toilet, the pursuit, the chase throughout London, his catching her, their talking, her story, his story? About his mother? The photo of him as a baby with his mother?

8. The confrontation, the bounty hunter giving Mona shelter, bringing the heart to the home, the response of the family, taking it to the butcher?

9. The portrait of the older brother, his police work, tough, the pursuits, finding the bounty hunter, his threats?

10. The bounty hunter, in the house, the decision to leave, the plan to go abroad with Mona? The picture of his house?

11. The brother arriving, Mona going to the roof, the brother and his attempt to force her to jump, the shootings, deaths? The bounty hunter’s final words? The bequest of his house to Mona?

12. The racist young people at the beginning on the train, accosting the passengers? Appearing at the end with Mona, her challenge to them?