forbidden lie$

yes correct there is a dollar sign in the title instead of an s
presumedly because this film is basically about the lies behind the book
called forbidden love written by norma khouri
about honour killings in her native jordan
and in particular the killing of a friend of hers at the hands of her father and brothers
for daring to fall in love with a man from another religious background
the book was pretty well an instant best seller and so many dollars would have changed hands
the author has settled in australia and so there was a furore here
when after being lauded and awarded with various literary prizes
some sharp investigative journalist work by malcolm knox questioned the truth
and ironically he himself was awarded some prizes for his work
so the premise of this film is a focus on the investigation
of determining how much truth is in the book
so the film takes on the style of a current affairs show
except that clocking in at over 2 hours it's a very long story
the film starts out assuming the presumption of innocence
and gives us the condensed version of what happens in the book
leading through to the success of the book and the way it has resonated
including as an example a rather cloying song written about dalia
who is the authors murdered friend
it's about there that i started squirming in my seat
and just in the nick of time the film does a big about-turn
a number of cynics are then introduced and tell their story
which sees the author discredited by one after another
it seems the lady is actually a u s based con artist with a history
not to mention a husband with a shady manner and past
it is suggested they are in australia to escape the gaze of the fbi
in an unusual piece of film-making the director turns the camera on herself
and travels to jordan with the author to verify or at least find some facts
but that all ends in a farce as one supposed fact after another evaporates
at about this point my feeling was that the point had been made
and the film could have easily been wrapped up there
but someone it seemed to me was out for revenge
and the character assassination continued on...and on...
we kept going back to people who had already made their point
and bad-mouthed, chain-smoking norma khouri does herself no favours
it actually occurred to me that maybe this had been intended as a mini-series
maybe a series of segments on a current affairs show
where the law hasn't passed any judgement but the producers sure have
norma khouri's argument is that all she intended
was to expose the issue of honour killings in jordan
but even the extent of that is discredited
get the impression revenge has been had
don't mess with the literary world
me - cross that book off the must read list
that makes a double negative