Dukhtar is a film that everyone has been talking about.  The film won an Oscar for crying out loud! I had very little background knowledge going into this movie. All I knew was that the film was about a child bride from a country in the middle east and that the director of film is a Pakistani woman. This movie was more than just what the reviews of it had to say, this was more or a less a love story. The film exemplified a mother’s love for her child and the extent that one is willing to go to ensure the safety and happiness of their child. This movie did not even focus on the actual child marriage. It showed that the girl’s father was left in a desolate situation where he essentially had to give up his small child for marriage to preserve the honor of their family. The father was not happy to do it, but the film made it seem like he was cornered into that unfortunate situation. I think a lot of the time westerners only get one side of the story, they do not get to see the other side. The film showcased that the daughter and wife are not just disposable members of the family because the father and the daughter’s husband to be are on a desperate hunt to find them. Even though they are portrayed as property, they are sheltered and treated in a delicate manner compared to men. They are not valued equally to men, but it shows that there is a greater complexity to their culture than meets the eye. The end of the film left me satisfied. The mother gets to see her mother again after many years apart, presumably because her husband would not allow her to visit her mother. While visiting her mother she gets shot and it is not known whether she survives or not, but at least she was free for a time.