This powerful and important film is the first to present an African viewpoint on a culturally explosive issue. Somali filmmaker Soraya Mire knows firsthand about the traditional African practice of female genital mutilation. At thirteen she was subjected to it and spent the next twenty years recovering physically and emotionally from its cruel legacy. Fire Eyes explores the socio-economic, psychological, and medical consequences of this ancient custom which affects more than 80 million women worldwide. In this film several women who have been subject to this "rite of passage" voice varying points of view on perpetuating the practice. While a few courageous women would spare their daughters this suffering, others fear their daughters would be unmarriageable. The troubling fact is that female circumcision is a women s ritual upheld by mothers, grandmothers and aunts, to conform to the male expectation for a chaste wife. Testimony from doctors detail the various forms of female circumcision and the horrendous ob/gyn problems that result. Dr. Groesbeck Parham, an African American, studied with a Sudanese doctor in Khartoum. He observes, "When you are confronted with a situation rooted in such deep cultural mores, you have to be careful not to become arrogant. But I think it is a practice that needs to be revamped." An extraordinary documentary for Women s Studies, Anthropology, African Studies, Public Health and Human Rights programs. (A closed captioned version available on vhs only. Please specify when ordering.).