Mini-Review: "Forbidden Lies"

By Carolina Astrain

Published Feb. 29, 2008

Compulsive liars — we all know them.

Director Anna Broinowski presents to her audience the life and story behind bestselling author Norma Khouri. Khouri, who after attracting attention for advocating against “honor deaths” in her homeland, Jordan, is widely criticized and accused of being a con artist due to an illicit amount of untruths and inconsistencies in her novel “Forbidden Love.” Within her accounts, Khouri details the murder of her best friend and childhood playmate, whom she refers to as Dalia, after her Muslim family discovers she has fallen in love with a Christian man. The documentary begins with reconstructed scenes of Khouri’s fabricated account and only later begins an investigation on the validity of Khouri’s tragic tale.

While watching this I kept squirming in my seat from feeling comfortable with the fact that this woman was out campaigning for a just cause to feeling uneasy about her half-truths and blatant abuse of humanitarian sympathizers in order to gain capital. Broinowski playfully edits and recreates the scenes in a way that leaves the viewer feeling and knowing that they have been fooled and pulled in the con just as much as Khouri’s principle fan base must have felt.

Broinowski could not make it to the screening to provide a question and answer session, due to complications in her connecting flights here from Australia, but will be available at later screenings during the remainder of the festival.

The transparency behind her interviews is something Broinowski does successfully, in that it creates multiple images of the subject matter, allowing for a truly objective viewing.