Rule Breakers
Rule Breakers
Stars: Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Nikohl Roosheri, Ali Fazal, and Amber Afzali
Director: Bill Guttentag (Oscar winner for “Twin Towers”)
Scriptwriters: Elaha Mahboob, Jason Brown and Bill Guttentag
Composer: Jeff Beal
Cinematographer: John Pardue
Angel Studios
Rating: PG with background war
Running Length: 120 minutes
Throughout the ages, there has always been war. Men, typically are the warriors, while women stay home, marry at an early age, bear children, cook, clean and do not learn how to read or right. In fact, the word “robot” could be applied to women of this culture. The archaic tradition is brought to the forefront in “Rule Breakers” and soundly trounced as girls learn, now only how to read and write, but use a computer and build robots. This is life for the women of Afghanistan. But now, the Taliban has something to worry about. A true story
Roya (Nikohl Boosheri) and other girls could not stay in classes with boys. The girls had to leave when computers arrived, though they were curious. This looked downright fascinating. Years pass, and now Roya and her friends are in a university, and they have top grades. There is an opening with a local café owner. She can use his computer before the store opens and before you know it, she is literally an expert with the machine and teaching other girls to use this technology. What happens next is almost unbelievable----an opportunity arises for the girls, with the help of a foreigner, Prof. Curie (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), to actually build a robot and enter a world-wide robotics competition. Their clever invention is a bomb-seeking robot. There are still bombings going on in this country and safety is a concern. From here on, the tension escalates as just about anything you can imagine happens to keep the girls from building, practicing, traveling and finally getting to----the competition. A nail-biter, for sure. Well, you can figure out the rest. It really is world-wide.
It can be a bit confusing at times, when the timeline shifts from younger student to older girl, but the actresses handle this well, not only with dialogue, but facial and hand expressions. There are literally nail-biter moments, one of which is getting on a plane in time. Family members (male) are not on the girls side and in one humorous moment, a girl is allowed to go because “there is a chance to find a wealthy husband.” Cinematography by John Pardue takes the audience into the lives of the girls, and Jeff Beal’s music propels the storyline along.
“Rule Breakers” can happen in other segments of the educational world. For example, a church organist could only be male and it wasn’t until 60 years ago that woman were deemed “talented enough” to play through an entire church service or direct a choir. It takes courage and stamina to reach your goal, but it is worth it. What obstacles confronted the women of Afghanistan in achieving their goals is still going on. Progress is slow, but it is happening.
Three Tocks
Copyright 2025 Marie Asner
