The Boxing Girls of Kabul (2012)

A group of young Afghan women train to represent their country as boxers in the 2012 Olympics.

Director:

Ariel Nasr

Writer:

Ariel Nasr

Stars:

Sadaf Rahimi, Shabnam Rahimi

1 win.

Cast

Credited cast:
Sadaf Rahimi	...	Herself
Shabnam Rahimi	...	Herself

Storyline

A group of young Afghan women train to represent their country as boxers in the 2012 Olympics.

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Genres:

Documentary

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Production Company (NFB) Listing

Country:

Canada

Language:

Persian

Release Date:

30 April 2012 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

National Film Board of Canada (NFB)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

52 min

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Engossing tale of individual struggles in an oppressive society.

The Boxing Girls of Kabul is an engrossing glimpse into post-Taliban Afghanistan, where life is freer than before, but women can still be stoned and hung for perceived immorality. The 3 young boxers are both encouraged and criticized, and as such demonstrate the precarious state of social pressure in a poor, religious, fractured country. Their fathers and their coach, despite serious threats against them, are all determined that the girls have the right to fight, and so seem similar to the father of Malala Yousafzai -- liberal people in an oppressive society.

In the narrative itself, the girls are at once inspiring. brave, naive, unrealistic, and seen through a certain lens, pathetic. With only amateur training, few resources, primitive equipment, and not even a ring in which to spar, their hopeful trips to tournaments in Vietnam and Kazakhstan become sobering collisions with reality, facing better trained, faster, fitter girls.

So, a story about the human condition, about brave young people, about coping in a hostile society, all in 50 fascinating minutes. Produced by the National Film Board of Canada, it is on Netflix. It is worth seeing.