"Ten Years Old and Divorced"; The Forced Marriage of an Arab Girl Child

"I am Najom; ten years old and divorced" is the title of a film by Khadijeh Al-Salami, a Yemeni female filmmaker, which won the Best Film award at the 11th Dubai International Film Festival. The film tells a shocking story about the forced marriage of a ten-year-old girl and challenges the wrong traditions prevalent in some Arab tribes. Due to its controversial story, the film enters realms that perhaps had not previously been directly addressed in Arab cinema; for this reason, the filmmaker may have been compelled to concede to certain aspects to reduce traditional criticisms and opposition to the film. Among these aspects is the incomplete condemnation of the father and husband characters, as the film attempts to explain the reason for selling this ten-year-old girl to a groom from another tribe in its final section. Hearing the bitter life story of the father and his perspective—who, fearing for his daughter's potential rape and her "dishonor" like his previous daughter, shows a tendency for her early marriage—tilts the balance somewhat calculatedly to the other side. Thus, although the father is naturally a negative character in the eyes of the audience due to his actions, the film presents this mindset as a result of ignorance and social compulsion. However, the film must also endure a kind of concession to the circumstances: at the end, the tribal chief who enters the legal court with armed forces to disrupt the court and return the girl to her husband surprisingly rules in favor of the little girl, speaks kindly to her, and asks her husband to divorce her. The film begins with this girl escaping from home when she goes out to buy bread and flees toward the court. She manages to see the judge and tells him her story of forced marriage. The judge is considered the most rational and modern character in the film. Beyond his duty, he takes this little girl home and keeps her with her family until the court hearing. The judge knows he will face a controversial case and must confront powerful wrong traditions. However, the film's narrative is very classic and storytelling, and the filmmaker makes no effort to narrate a newer and different story, preferring to go directly to the events in a style that is not particularly complex. As a result, the film's atmosphere seems very simple, and the characters ultimately do not gain much depth. The psychological angles of the characters remain undeveloped, and most are narrated in a specific type (the little girl as a victim; the husband as a symbol of uneducated tribal men; and the girl's father as a victim of traditional societal conditions and also a victim of the family's poor financial situation). However, due to its shocking story, the film engages the audience and can sometimes evoke empathy in painful situational scenes—without playing with emotions. In fact, the filmmaker tries to confront the situation from a distance. Although he deviates from this principle in a few scenes, the filmmaker's effort is a correct one that at least has social functionality. He becomes an observer of the conditions of a complex society where the most heinous type of assault, even against a ten-year-old child, is justified as the "legal right of the husband." The husband repeatedly states in court that he married with the father's permission and that this act is in accordance with the "tradition of God and the Prophet," while the judge challenges his statements and considers this mindset as stemming from his ignorance and lack of understanding of religion. Although if the film had been made in a more open environment, we might have encountered a different film that could have had a stronger critical aspect, due to the limitations of cinema in Arab countries, one cannot expect a film more explicit than this. Therefore, if the film ever finds the opportunity to be shown among tribes, it may also have a significant social function.