"Rabia" asks its audience to sympathize with a female suicide bomber, and while that is a lot to ask for a western audience, it goes deeper in exploring her story and how she came to be a terrorist. Rabia is a woman who has been marginalized, demeaned, and abused to the point where she seeks achievement and identity on the darkest and most destructive fringe elements of her society.
Thus, the central question of "Rabia" becomes what is the value of a life, or how is a person truly defined by society. While extremely relevant for the middle eastern society in which Rabia lives, the film extends this question to humanity as a whole. It is an audacious task for a short film, but "Rabia" opens the dialogue on these issues.
Thus, the central question of "Rabia" becomes what is the value of a life, or how is a person truly defined by society. While extremely relevant for the middle eastern society in which Rabia lives, the film extends this question to humanity as a whole. It is an audacious task for a short film, but "Rabia" opens the dialogue on these issues.