Thursday night I went to see the film Dukhtar at the Cornell Cinema. This film was incredibly moving, I was tearing up at some parts during the film and multiple times caught myself with my hands in front of my mouth with worry and suspense about what was going to happen next to the mother and daughter. If you haven’t seen this film I would recommend watching it. While it is not in english, the film is closed captioned, and I can say it was very easy to read along since there is not extensive talking. This film highlighted cultural differences very well. It also showed that while cultures may be different, there are a lot of similarities, one is a mother’s love for her daughter.

While watching, I was surprised to see how little the father cared about his daughter’s wellbeing and how quickly he ordered his wife’s death after learning that she had been spotted with another man. Even though she and the other man were not involved in any way, he was simply helping them escape. It was moments like these that were eye opening. I feel lucky to live in a culture where I may chose whom I get to spend my life with, and I know that if I were there, I would do everything in my power to help families like the one in the film. I think films like this one are important to watch because they help show what other cultures can be like. A picture is worth a thousand words, and I cannot express how much more educational this film was for me over reading an article or textbook.