After the Rape

In 2002, a woman from the Pakistani countryside named Mukhtar Mai made world headlines. After the rumour that her 12-year-old brother was having a relationship with a woman from another clan, Mukhtar was gang-raped by order of the village council. Instead of committing suicide, she spoke out and the six men were sentenced to death, although five of them were eventually acquitted. Against all the codes of her society, Mukhtar took her case to the Supreme Court. doesn't comment on the outcome of her case. What the film does show is the environment that the assertive Muhktar managed to create in the wake of the incident. In her village in the poor Pakistani countryside, she opened a crisis centre for women in need, and even more importantly, two schools for girls. Mukhtar only occasionally appears onscreen, and the observational camera concentrates on the fruits of her labour. The crisis centre and the women who come looking for help there illustrate the abuses of a society in which tribal leaders still run the show and violence against women is always lurking somewhere. The school for girls and the diligent students show that there's hope for change.