Original title: «Omvendt»
What happens if the man you love converts to Islam for you...but you yourself tries to escape the religion? Over 5 years the filmmaker turns her camera on herself and her loved ones as they struggle to find peace living with Islam in a modern society. Conflict over religion threatens to tear her family apart and it climaxes as they move through life’s major turning points. A brutal choice has to be made between faith and family. In a search for compromise, she shares with the world a universal story about what you have to sacrifice for love.
Review:
What does «Omvendt» mean? It means the "reverse" or the opposite. In this 54 min documentary, the director Erlynee turned the camera onto herself and her family, exploring the controversial topic of what it means to be a Muslim and the social control a family can impinge through religion and social expectations.
Why "reverse"? Most of us are used to the stereotype of an Asian woman, usually of darker skin converting to the religion of the (Caucasian) man. I know, practically medieval, right? But this stereotype persists even till this post-colonial day. Yet in this family, her Norwegian husband Atle is the one converting to Islam for his wife, and even becoming more religious than her. In this film she struggles with her own relationship with Allah and what it means to be a modern Muslim woman. Did Atle join her family in pressuring her to become more of a "good" Muslim?
Is there freedom in religion?
I couldn't help tears flowing as I witness the pain of the director being pressured by her family and her strength in pursuing her own path in life, despite social expectations. The honesty in this film touches and reminds of one's courage iin life.
Review by Egil Bjørsland
"Highly recommended! Erlynee and Atle take us into the world, which is unknown to most of us. In spite of many existentially difficult questions and choices, the love they have over each other gains over religious and culturally created historical obstacles."
I have met many couples through my work as marriages, but no couple has challenged my own attitudes to faith or religion in the same way as Erlynee and Atle made in our discussions in advance of the ceremony. This film is an emotional experience and a honest and reliable feedback in a sometimes chaotic and harrowing world. The movie gives hope without choosing a page and without concluding that someone is right while others are wrong. It is an unvarnished and honest, harrowing and challenging documentary!
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