TAHARA

Synopsis

TAHARA is the story of Amina, an Egyptian housewife living in Los Angeles, who must decide if she will follow tradition and circumcise her daughter, Suha, or if she will abandon this age old practice. Despite it's illegality, Amina feels strongly that she must continue this tradition because of pressure she receives from her mother, Zeinab, when her husband's away on a business trip. Amina solicits the services of a surgeon who informs her of the serious health consequences. He refuses. When Amina returns home Zeinab argues with her and insists they will take Suha to the local daya (an illegal circumcisor). Amina tosses and turns all night. The next day at the daya's house Amina sits amongst women with Suha beside her. As Amina takes Suha through customary rites-of-passage, she recalls the rich, colorful pageantry of her own circumcision which provides her with strength. However, Amina's also assaulted by repressed memories of her own brutal operation. She is confronted with the horrendous pain she endured and the abandonment she felt by her mother. Will Amina find the necessary courage to confront her mother to save her daughter from the brutal psychological and physical efects of circumcision? Or, will she submit Suha to the same horrifying fate?