Film stirs debate on women's role in Islam

With its harrowing scenes of rape and abuse and its rousing calls for equality, a new film on the oppression of women in Islamic societies is courting controversy in Indonesia.

The film, Perempuan Berkalung Sorban (Woman with a Scarf Around her Neck), by local filmmaker Hanung Bramantyo is the latest Islam-inspired movie to ride the wave of a cinematic revival in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority nation.

Perempuan Berkalung Sorban is aimed at prompting a difficult internal debate among Muslims about how women are treated. The film tells the story of the rebellion of Anissa, the headstrong and intelligent daughter of the head of an Islamic boarding school on Java island.