Now that I've seen the film, I can only say I feel proud and grateful. I'm proud of and grateful to the three Pooni sisters for sharing their story in this film, proud of the director, Baljit Sangra's work, and of Canada's National Film Board, for producing it. It's a beautiful, moving film. The three sisters are such a lovely example of women's caring for each other and for others. At the screening I attended in Vancouver hosted by Reel Causes they participated in a post-film Q&A with the director and a rep from the charitable beneficiary of the screening, Family Services of Greater Vancouver.
I'm also grateful to my parents for never making me feel less important to them for being female. In so many families, not all of them from other places in the world, this isn't always the case. The particular screening I attended was a mostly female audience and all I can say is the men missed out tonight.
From the opening frames, I realized this wasn't the kind of film I was expecting it to be. In some aspects, it's a quintessentially Canadian or North American immigrant family story. The early narrative helps draw us into this Punjabi-Canadian family's situation when the sisters were young, including the prejudice and shaming they faced for being in a visible minority. Steeled for details of sexual abuse that were almost entirely absent from the film, I saw and heard instead a tale of three girls becoming women in a challenging set of circumstances. How they love each other and what they do with those circumstances is inspiring, not depressing, though you can expect to be moved to tears at times.
From the opening frames, I realized this wasn't the kind of film I was expecting it to be. In some aspects, it's a quintessentially Canadian or North American immigrant family story. The early narrative helps draw us into this Punjabi-Canadian family's situation when the sisters were young, including the prejudice and shaming they faced for being in a visible minority. Steeled for details of sexual abuse that were almost entirely absent from the film, I saw and heard instead a tale of three girls becoming women in a challenging set of circumstances. How they love each other and what they do with those circumstances is inspiring, not depressing, though you can expect to be moved to tears at times.
