海角大神

In 2017, several Afghan girls tried to travel to the U.S. to participate in a robotics competition. It became headline news. An exuberant new movie, 鈥淩ule Breakers,鈥� tells the team鈥檚 backstory and also what happened next. Imagine 鈥淏end It Like Beckham鈥� but with STEM instead of soccer.

The story starts with gunfire. Three siblings 鈥� Roya, Elaha, and Ali Mahboob 鈥� are driving across an arid plain when a car pulls up alongside. A gunman leans out the window and starts shooting. His intended victims only survive because the rifle malfunctions. The reason for the attack? Roya (Nikohl Boosheri) has been teaching young girls how to use computers. She鈥檚 established 10 classrooms in the cities of Herat and Kabul. In a bid to garner funding from investors, Roya decides to form an Afghan girls robotics team that will compete internationally.听

鈥淜nowledge is power,鈥� Roya tells the girls in one of her classes. 鈥淭his is no longer our fathers鈥�, our grandfathers鈥� Afghanistan. This is our Afghanistan, too.鈥�

This low budget, well-made production is being distributed by Angel Studios. Until now, the studio has made its name producing 海角大神-themed fare. The independent company established its reputation with 鈥淭he Chosen,鈥� an ongoing TV series about Jesus鈥� life. Its theatrical releases include 鈥淏onhoeffer,鈥� a biopic about a famous German pastor who was a dissident in Nazi Germany, and 鈥淪ound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot,鈥� a true story about a church whose congregants adopted dozens of children. The studio is now broadening beyond theological stories to focus on meaningful, uplifting entertainment.听

Filmed in Morocco and Hungary, the PG-rated 鈥淩ule Breakers鈥� fits the bill. There are a few scenes depicting violence in war-torn Afghanistan, but nothing too graphic. The first 25 minutes of the movie are fairly serious and barely hint at the central story. There are exposition-laden flashbacks to Roya鈥檚 childhood, in which she鈥檚 banished from the classroom while the boys are taught how to use computers. Later, at university, Roya complains to an administrator, 鈥淲e have five classes a day on Sharia law and zero on computers.鈥� She successfully petitions the university to change its policy. Despite Roya鈥檚 reputation for rule breaking, her brother Ali (Noorin Gulamgaus) balks at her latest idea of launching a robotics squad.

鈥淒on鈥檛 say it,鈥� Roya tells Ali. 鈥溾�榊ou might as well start the Afghan girls鈥� ice hockey team.鈥欌�澨�

The fun begins when the two siblings visit the homes of promising students they鈥檇 like to recruit. It emulates the scenes in heist movies when ringleaders assemble a crew. Taara (Nina Hosseinzadeh), the daughter of a car mechanic, aspires to become a mechanical engineer. Ace coder Haadiya (Sara Malal Rowe) wants to launch her own company. Mathematics whiz Esin (Amber Afzali) wishes to study in Britain and earn a doctorate. Video gamer Arezo (Mariam Saraj), chosen to pilot the remote-controlled robots, dreams of owning a red Mustang. The first order of business for the newly formed team is googling 鈥渉ow to build a robot.鈥� They only have two months to prepare before competing in Washington, D.C.听

The world first heard about the Afghan Dreamers team when they were denied U.S. visas. President Donald Trump stepped in to help. He tasked the State Department, which had twice refused visas to the team, with finding an option that would allow the girls to compete. The movie makes no mention of Mr. Trump. It鈥檚 possible that co-writer and director Bill Guttentag, who won an Academy Award for co-directing the 9/11-themed short documentary 鈥淭win Towers,鈥� wanted to avoid getting entangled in polarized U.S. politics.

鈥淩ule Breakers鈥� is more interested in the domestic affairs of Afghanistan. The contestants鈥� families fret that they鈥檝e given the girls too much freedom. When Esin is photographed touching a male competitor from the Netherlands while signing his shirt, it causes a scandal back home. Worse? Taliban insurgents engage in reprisals. The storyline is set just a few years prior to the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. 鈥淩ule Breakers鈥� foreshadows the return of the Taliban听and its silencing of women 鈥� banning education after age 12, and forbidding them from speaking in public (or to one another) or showing their faces. It鈥檚 a vast relief when the end titles inform viewers that these young women, at least, escaped to the U.S. and Europe.听

Mostly, 鈥淩ule Breakers鈥� is as joyful as its standout score by Emmy-winning composer Jeff Beal. You鈥檒l root for the immensely likable team as they become immersed in the world of competitive robotics. Call it the nerd Olympics. Teams of students from all over the world construct robots capable of performing tasks such as scooping up balls and throwing them into baskets.听

In an unbilled cameo, Phoebe Waller-Bridge (鈥淔leabag,鈥� 鈥淚ndiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny鈥�) plays a competition host who tells the teams, 鈥淵ou are all from different nations. But you have come here today in the common hope that we can together build a better future through science and technology, which connects us all.鈥�

That鈥檚 about as profound as 鈥淩ule Breakers鈥� gets. It doesn鈥檛 offer revelatory cultural insight. Often, the script is too on-the-nose with overly earnest dialogue. But what the film does really well is showcase Roya and her students as role models for making a difference in the world. Breaking free of a society with rigid ideas about masculine and feminine roles, they fully embodied their humanity and enriched a society determined to partition women. It is a feel-good movie poignantly set against the heartbreaking current reality of Afghan women. The movie more than fulfills Angel Studios鈥� mission to 鈥渁mplify light.鈥�

鈥淩ule Breakers鈥� is rated PG for thematic material and some violent content.