In
her bestseller Londonistan, British
journalist Melanie Phillips argues Britain’s pluralistic liberal values are steadily
eroding due to the rise of Islamist ideology from within. At one point, Mona’s
brother makes a similar point, but he brazenly considers himself part of the
process. Kasim happens to be a police officer, who is determined to murder his
sister out of a perverse sense of family duty in Shan Khan’s simply but evocatively
titled Honour (trailer here), which launches
today on VOD.
Mona
scandalized her Muslim Pakistani family by pursuing romance with a Punjabi
Hindu colleague. For that, she must die. However, she proves to be unexpectedly
elusive for the severe Kasim and his somewhat reluctant younger brother, Adel,
so they enlist a specialist. Ever since his release from prison, the unnamed
bounty hunter has carved out a niche for himself, based on referrals from the
imam he served time with. Just how the heavily tattooed white supremacist
formed an alliance with the devout Muslim remains unspoken, but one can easily
assume they bonded over targets of mutual hate.
Nevertheless,
the nameless thug-for-hire is starting to develop a conscience, especially
after witnessing the savage treatment of his last highly pregnant target. It
will be ironic if the former Aryan gang member teaches Mona’s family a lesson
in real honor, but in all honesty, Kasim and his cold-blooded mother set the
bar awfully low.
As
usual, Paddy Considine is totally money-in-the-bank as the bounty hunter. It is
a gritty punch-to-the-gut portrayal of soul-sickness and redemption, yet it is
not really his movie. Instead, Atlantis co-star
Aiysha Hart shoulders a disproportionate share of the film’s load, acquitting herself
rather well. In fact, she seems to get stronger as the film progresses, vividly
expressing understandable feelings of fear, pain, and betrayal. While the
ad-hoc alliance between her and Considine’s grim brooder might strike some
viewers as a bit too pat, their rapport helps considerably to sell it
on-screen.
Hard
to pigeon-hole, Honour rather
effectively straddles the border
between thrillers and social issue dramas. Arguably, Khan’s out-of-sequence
temporal narrative gets a little too cute for its own good, but it does
accentuate the suspense at several key junctures. More importantly, he
masterfully maintains the tension, conveying a visceral sense of Mona’s bereft
alienation.
