The Day I Will Never Forget 2002

“Set in the Somali community of Nairobi, Kenya, where female genital mutilation is still a common practice, The Day I Will Never Forget takes a many-faceted look at the complex social and cultural forces that continue to thwart effective reform. A Western-trained nurse confronts a new husband with his wife’s need for corrective surgery, only to see him put his fear of being shamed by his friends before his wife’s well-being. A men’s fraternity leader, wearing traditional dress, claims that the clitoris is no different from the foreskin and therefore must be removed. Middle-class mothers sit around a living room rationalizing their own suffering and justifying why they have passed the practice on to their daughters. But filmmaker Kim Longinotto, whose previous films include Divorce Iranian Style and Gaea Girls, provides a larger context for the practice with a look into Somalian marriage customs… Ultimately, hope is found in a group of young girls who petition the court for a restraining order against their parents.” — Jennine Lanouette, San Francisco Film Festival