The streets of Herat, Afghanistan, are paved not with gold but with scrolling code in the spirited drama “Rule Breakers.” Teacher and startup owner Roya Mahboob believes in the transformative possibilities of computers. Portrayed with a mix of stubbornness and smarts by Nikohl Boosheri, Roya is the kind of ponderer who sees images from computer screens and lines of iridescent code on the building walls and roadways of Herat.
“The first time I touched a computer, it was like a light in the dark,” the young educator says, standing in front of a classroom of rapt high school girls in Herat Province. Something similar could be said of “Rule Breakers,” which tells the story of Roya and the four gifted students she enlists for Afghanistan’s first robotics team.
While director Bill Guttentag leans into the rules of genre more than breaks with them, the film is a beam of light — about math, science and the ability of girls to achieve — arriving at a moment when not only the Taliban continues to aggressively deny girls an education in Afghanistan, but also science in our own country is taking a hit. We can all use some light.
As played by Boosheri, Roya is a true believer — or, as Samir (Ali Fazal), the Indian tech entrepreneur who is both mentor and champion, says more than once, she is “a very persistent person.” She’ll have to be. Early on, Roya, Elaha and their brother Ali (Noorin Gulamgaus) are rushed on a dusty road by masked Taliban members in a revving truck.
As a rifle points out of the truck’s window, the film cuts to 18 years earlier. It’s 1999 and Roya’s father encourages his little daughter to be as curious as the boys about the computers arriving in her classroom. (He is not the only winning Girl Dad in the film.) Although she tries, she and the other girls are shunted out of the classroom by the teacher, who then introduces the boys to the freshly unpacked computers. Roya watches from the outside.
She may be excluded, but it doesn’t stop her from wanting to get her hands on a computer. A few years older and even more driven, she gains access to one that sits in a bakery cafe. She makes a bargain with the chauvinistic bakery owner, one he didn’t actually believe he would have to make good on. Soon she is the shop’s IT troubleshooter. Later, she pitches a computer science class, then gets an unlikely percentage of students to support her. Thwarted but undeterred could be the theme of the film.
Roya is fortunate, since the encounter on the road in 2017 could have turned deadly or at least subverted her quest to teach girls coding and other tech skills. The way she recruits the four math-science whizzes for her first robotics team is depicted with beats that will be familiar to sports movie enthusiasts. Yet, the search — and later, the scenes of competition — work their magic. Taara (Nina Hosseinzadeh), Haadiya (Sara Malal Rowe), Arezo (Mariam Saraj) and Esin (Amber Afzali) develop a sweet chemistry. Sure, we pull for the quartet and their clattering inventions to win the international competitions, but even more we hope they grow and thrive away from the strictures of home.
The filmmakers ensure that viewers similar in age to the kids on screen get an eyeful of what those robotics gatherings are like for their contestants, who arrive from all over the globe. They’re a nerd party! The brainy kids prove competitive but also collaborative and curious about each other. They represent diverse ethnicities and nationalities, and there are plenty of girls problem-solving and leading teams. “Around here, everyone helps each other,” says one kid.
There will be setbacks, so many setbacks. Some will be technical, others logistical or bureaucratic. Some people will throw up roadblocks (including the U.S. Embassy). But unexpected allies and converts to the team’s cause appear, too: passengers awaiting a flight to Kabul, an American technology reporter, maybe even that annoying bakery owner.
Along the way, the robots — which resemble mobile erector sets — get more nimble and functional. If the first competition in Washington, D.C., feels like it gets short shrift, it’s because there will be many more. And if Roya seems underwhelmed with their initial accomplishments, it’s because she expects her team to do better. She’s not one to settle.
There will also be blowback. As the team excels and garners international press attention, the Taliban and other disapprovers at home take note. A devasting loss forces Roya to rethink her advocacy. Luckily by then, she is not the only caretaker of the dream.
Since the attacks of 9/11, there have been a handful of compelling and moving films about girls and young women pushing against the repressive Islamic regimes of their countries, among them: “Osama,” set in Afghanistan; “Wadjda,” set in Saudi Arabia; “Circumstance,” in Tehran; and “He Named Me Malala,” the American-made documentary about education activist Malala Yousafzai, who was nearly killed by the Taliban.
Those films are nestled deeper in the cultures they depict and more illuminating for it. But in placing the story of Roya and her young heroes into a tried-and-trued format, Guttentag makes an entertaining argument about the global importance of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education for all kids while celebrating the astounding accomplishment of its smart female heroes.
“Rule Breakers” arrives at a time when the situation for women and girls in Afghanistan continues to devolve. Neither the Mahboob sisters (Elaha co-wrote the screenplay) nor the other robotics team members currently live in Afghanistan. No matter how inspirational “Rule Breakers” is — and it is, surprisingly so — somehow that serves as a caution.
