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CPH:DOX 2019 Review: Marie Skovgaard’s The
Reformist
by Marta Bałaga,
Cineuropa 21/03/2019
Marie Skovgaard’s
fascination with the woman behind Europe’s first mosque run by female imams is
contagious.
If there is one thing that Marie Skovgaard’s The
Reformist, the opening title of this year’s edition of CPH:DOX
(20-31 March), really, really benefits from, it’s the choice of protagonist.
After generating a sea of international headlines, understandably also
referenced here, it was only a matter of time before Danish activist
Sherin Khankan would get her very
own film.
Sherin Khankan in The
Reformist
And it’s just a pity that this one, presented in the DOX:Award section
alongside 12 other films, including Ai
WeiWei’s The Rest and
Sarah J Christman’s Swarm
Season, keeps skating on the surface instead of really
committing to at least trying to understand the surprising
choices made by a woman who knowingly continues to confront a system that has no
willingness, nor any apparent need, for any confrontation at
all.
While her decision to open Europe’s first
mosque run by female imams such as herself was a risky move, she didn’t stop
there – when Khankan started to perform inter-faith marriages between Muslim
women and non-Muslim men, she alienated even the ones closest to her
cause.
Skovgaard’s
film illustrates that quite well, as instead of the “us” versus
“them” narrative, it soon evolves into a much more complex
affair, with neglected collaborators disagreeing with her hasty decisions and,
it seems to be implied, not all that happy with her newfound fame.

Her fame is perfectly understandable, too – with her
striking, Neutrogena spokeswoman-like looks and soft-spoken delivery,
Sherin strikes us as the kind of role model that fashion
magazines are always craving, the proverbial “whole package”
able to sell just about every message on Earth. At least to
a certain audience, as her female-friendly take on Islam – not to mention
flat-out refusal to cover her hair in public, instead opting for an
“inner veil” – is first met with condescending smirks, and then
with open hostility.
And although Skovgaard is not exactly blind to her flaws
(Khankan is shown as an impetuous
leader, to say the least, and not exactly a team player), she is clearly
fascinated by her journey and her apparent inability to just stop.
Needless to say, finally forced to compromise when a man
approaches her about officiating his gay wedding, she still shows up at the
ceremony.

But glimpses into her private life are few and far
between, and feel a tad forced, with Khankan more comfortable
discussing religion than her own situation. Divorced with
four children, she is predictably more willing to grant divorces to women trying
to escape their violent husbands than her conservative “colleagues”, but it’s
the mention of her parents’ happy marriage – between a Syrian Muslim and a
Christian Finn – that really strikes a chord.
That being said,
the film itself also feels a bit like such a glimpse, not unlike those
interesting if hardly in-depth interviews she is shown giving here. But as
Khankan repeatedly stresses the need to gradually “grow into
her role”, perhaps it’s fitting that Skovgaard shows her still warming up – a reformist
in progress, if you will.
The Reformist was produced by
Jesper Jack, of Danish outfit House of Real.
Its international sales are handled by First Hand Films World
Sales.
synopsis
Together with a group of Muslims
Sherin Khankan is opening Europe’s
first mosque run by female imams. The members of the Mosque aim to confront and
challenge the fear surrounding Islam and call for a tolerant and gender-based
interpretation of the Quran. Sherin is impatient. She wants change and equality
now. But how do you break centuries of tradition from within a religion over
night?
When Sherin openly begins granting Islamic
divorces to women unhappily married and performs inter-faith marriages of Muslim
women and non-Muslim men, her haste divides the organisation to the brink of
collapse.
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