Silent Waters

The setting is Pakistan in 1979, just as ex-President Bhutto is about to be executed and General Zia is beginning his programme of Islamisation in earnest. A seemingly contented mother Ayesha is looking forward to her son's wedding, but when he embraces Islamic radicalism, family tranquillity is shattered. Ayesha, the son learns to his disgust, was abducted during partition and is not the pure Muslim that he believed her to be. Sabiha Sumar's moving but self-righteous debut feature, a Golden Leopard winner at the Locarno festival, betrays its director's background as a documentary maker. What she is really trying to investigate is the legacy of the tragic events in the old Punjab in 1947, when Muslim and Sikh women alike were abducted, raped and sometimes murdered, and entire communities were split apart. Kirron Kher gives an affecting performance as the mother whose past catches up with her.