Educational Media Reviews Online

Filmed in a reality show format, this documentary follows Shadya Zoabi, a 17-year-old karate champion and a Muslim from a small Arab village in northern Israel, around in her daily life. We first meet Shadya at a karate competition that she has just won. She is calling her father to exuberantly announce her win. The camera follows her home and we meet the rest of her family. Her mother, sister and brothers are very traditional Muslims. Her father is more secular and supports his daughters as they study and compete in karate. There are definitely tensions at home that come across. Shadya’s older brother is very antagonistic, stating that Shadya is going against Islamic beliefs by learning and competing in karate. Her sister and mother seem to resent the attention and freedom that Shadya has and the support her father gives her. Shadya adds to the family tensions, as she is very cocky and opinionated.

As we follow Shadya to a competition in South Africa, we see the additional pressures that she faces. Shadya is an Arab Israeli and competes on the Israeli team. The Israeli team runs into the Palestinian team at the competition site. Shadya’s coach asks the Palestinian coach if the two teams can train together but is rebuffed by the Palestinian coach. As Shadya talks with the Palestinian competitors, they question how she can compete for Israel and still be Muslim. When the Palestinian team wins, Shadya parades around with the Palestinian flag wrapped around her, upsetting her teammates. Shadya in turn lashes out at her non Arab Israeli teammates, telling them that they do not understand her. This conflict affects how she competes and she loses her round. She is so emotionally overwrought at having lost that she runs from the competition area without acknowledging her opponent. Her coach runs after her and tells her to come back to finish the round or the whole team will be disqualified.

Heading back to her family, we meet her fiancé and follow the wedding plans up to and including the wedding. Shadya’s marriage has been set to take place when she turns 18. Before the wedding, Shadya is interviewed about her plans for continuing karate training and competitions. She vehemently proclaims that she will continue with both. Her brother, father and fiancé are also interviewed, with her brother saying that she won’t continue, her father saying she will continue and her fiancé not saying much at all.

After the wedding, Shadya stops going to karate practice since her new husband wants her to stay at home and take care of his needs. After a few months, she goes to another competition with her father and sister. Her father is boasting about Shadya and how he will always support her. Shadya loses at the competition and the ride home is painful, with Shadya’s father retracting his support, saying that she should stay home.

This film brings up many issues—those of religious beliefs and the place of women, the problems of being an Arab in Israel, family tensions when a parent favors one child over the others, or whose approval and support depend on how well the child does something.

A discussion guide is available on the PBS Independent Lens web site.

Awards
• 2005 Winner, Golden MovieSquad Award at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam