To Kill A Tiger (2023)

In 2017 a 13 year old girl is at her cousin's wedding and she is kidnapped, gang raped, and beaten--then told that she will be killed if she reveals what happened and who did it. She ignores that, tells her family, and while they go to the police and report the crime, there is intense pressure from the village to renege on the complaint, the crime is minimized, despite the physical violence that was evident on examination, and widespread in the vollage among men and women alike that she should marry one of her rapists, that it was the only way out. When she refused they were angry, not just that it brought undue scrutiny on the village, but that she needed to marry and this was the only way, she would never find someone to marry her otherwise. Not one person is angry with the boys who attacked her, no one is alarmed that boys who want to marry a girl who does not want them can just rape her and get her that way. No escape. The family wants to support their daughter, who is very damaged by this attack, and yet the odds are so stacked against them. Without the support of outside agencies, men and women who are trying to stop rape in a country where a woman is raped every 20 minutes and fears little in the way of consequences, and the documentary filming there is no doubt that they family would have caved to this intense village pressure--there are times when her father does not show up for court appearances and the family is threatened with violence, harm to property, and death by the families of the accused rapists. It is very hard to bear witness to scenes so devastating and anger-inducing that even viewers fully aware of what they are getting into may be taken aback. This is, I recognize, not exactly the kind of thing that one normally says about a film they are trying to encourage people to seek. But in this case, it seems both accurate and appropriate. "To Kill a Tiger" tells an important story in a compelling manner that makes it worth watching, but its journey is so intense at times it might prove to be too much for some. Living in a country where women are now legally not treated equally to men, this is very very chilling.