Rule Breakers

I am a sucker for inspirational movies so I went to see Rule Breakers last night and I really enjoyed this true story about one woman's quest to empower young girls in Afghanistan through science and technology education.  After she was denied the opportunity to use the computers at her school because of her gender, Roya Mahboob (Nikohl Boosheri) eventually teaches herself how to code using a computer in a local cafe, campaigns for computer classes for women at her university, becomes an entrepreneur in the tech field, and establishes computer classes at high schools for girls.  However, she wants to do more and, with the support of her brother Ali (Noorin Gulamgaus) and an Indian tech entrepreneur (Ali Fazal), she decides to sponsor a girls robotics team with the hope of taking them to international competitions and recruits four highly qualified girls, including Taara (Nina Hosseinzadeh), Esin (Amber Afzali), Haadiya (Sara Malal Rowe), and Arezo (Mariam Saraj).  They face many obstacles (so many obstacles!), experience personal tragedy, and receive backlash from the Taliban before they eventually triumph through dedication and determination.  This is incredibly moving and there were moments when I had tears in my eyes over what these girls had to go through in order to achieve their dreams.  I also think this is an important story to tell about the power of knowledge to change the world, particularly now that girls in Afghanistan no longer have access to education beyond the sixth grade.  The performances are all outstanding but I do wish that the movie had developed the characters, especially the girls on the team, more fully because I wanted to know more about them.  My only other complaint is that the scenes at the robotics competitions focus more on the party atmosphere (are robotics competitions really like this?) rather than on what the teams are actually doing and how they are being judged.  The heartwarming story definitely overcomes these minor issues and I highly recommend it!