Rule Breakers Parent Guide
An inspiring story, this movie deserves to be widely seen.
Parent Movie Review
Fascinated by computers since childhood, when only boys were allowed to use them at school, Roya Mahboob (Nikohl Boosheri) worked tenaciously to master them before becoming the first female tech entrepreneur in the history of Afghanistan.
Personal success isn’t enough for Roya: she knows that although girls’ lives are rigidly circumscribed in Afghanistan, they can find freedom online. Now she wants to share the opportunities the internet provides with Afghan girls, so she begins offering computer classes. Then Roya has an idea: if she can assemble a girls’ team to compete at the international robotics championship, young women all over Afghanistan will become aware of the benefits of computer literacy.
With the help of her brother, Ali (Noorin Gulamgaus), Roya manages to find four brilliant young women who have the skills needed for the team. The challenge is persuading their families to allow them to be on the team and attend competitions. Those issues overcome, new problems crop up - trouble getting items through Afghan customs, denial of visas to attend a competition in the USA, financial challenges in the girls’ families, harassment and threats, and a fatal explosion that affects the team. Will the challenges crush the girls’ dreams or will they make them smarter, tougher, and more innovative?
Rule Breakers fits neatly into the underdog sports film genre, hitting all the expected beats and delivering strong lessons about persistence, teamwork, determination, overcoming discouragement, and fighting to the end. What makes this film stand out is its bittersweet quality: watching the girls thrive as they are able to learn and grow beyond the constraints forced upon by their society is truly joyful; it’s equally painful to know that the current Taliban regime has once again forced women into lives of medieval servitude. Now that girls can’t attend school beyond sixth grade, or leave home alone, or have their voices heard in public, groups like the Afghan Girls Robotics Team are impossible. (In fact, the members of the original team have all fled the country and are living abroad.) So, although this is a film about hope, it’s also one that will be watched with a real sense of pain.
Despite the heartache, I strongly recommend this film for adults and teens. Negative content is minimal, with only enough violence to help audiences understand the characters’ peril. It’s true that Rule Breakers isn’t groundbreaking cinema, but it does a fine job of telling an important story, one that needs to be told. If we forget women like these, then the Taliban has truly won.
Directed by Bill Guttentag. Starring Nikohl Boosheri , Amber Afzali, Sara Malal Rowe. Running time: 120 minutes. Theatrical release March 7, 2025. Updated March 5, 2025
Watch the trailer for Rule Breakers
Rule Breakers
Rating & Content Info
Why is Rule Breakers rated PG? Rule Breakers is rated PG by the MPAA for thematic material and some violent content.
Violence: Guns are fired at people driving on a highway. There’s mention of a suicide bombing. People get threats for female achievement. A mosque is blown up off screen but the blast is heard and damage is seen afterwards. Wounded people are seen on stretchers. A secondary character dies.
Sexual Content: A man and woman kiss on the dance floor.
Profanity:
Alcohol / Drug Use: Background characters drink alcohol at a nightclub.
Page last updated March 5, 2025
Rule Breakers Parents' Guide
You can read more about the real life Afghan Girls Robotics Team here.
Loved this movie? Try these books…
For more stories of Afghan women struggling to live their dreams, you can try the following. Defiant Dreams, written by Malaina Kapoor and Sola Mahfouz, tells Sola’s story – her determination to educate herself which would lead her to a career in quantum computing in the USA. Nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, Dr. Sima Samar struggled against the Soviets and then the Taliban to found schools and hospitals. Her story is told in Outspoken: My Fight for Freedom and Human Rights in Afghanistan, which is co-written with Sally Armstrong. Since the Taliban reasserted control in 2021, life has become more restrictive for women in Afghanistan. Thirteen of them share their stories in We Are Still Here, edited by Nahid Shahalimi. Published by the George W. Bush Institute, We Are Afghan Women: Voices of Hope collects the tales of courageous female fighters against the forces of oppression and injustice. Another collection of women’s stories is found in Dear Zari: The Secret Lives of the Women of Afghanistan, which is edited by Zarghuna Kargar.
Home Video
Related home video titles:
There are movies aplenty about troops fighting in Afghanistan; fewer about the civilians. In The Breadwinner, a young girl pretends to be a boy so she can feed her family under oppressive Taliban rule. The Kite Runner is a reminiscence by Amir, who remembers his life under the Soviet occupation. In the animated film Flee, Amin is forced to leave Afghanistan and proceeds to seek a safe place to call home.
The MTV documentary Afghan Dreamers tells the true story of the Afghan girls robotics team.
Iranians struggle under an oppressive regime in Seed of the Sacred Fig, Children of Heaven, Persepolis and A Separation. Wadjda is the story of a Saudi Arabian girl who wants to ride a bike – something only permitted for boys. The documentary He Named Me Malala tells the story of the young teen who became a Nobel-prize-winning activist for female education and empowerment in Pakistan and around the world.