Sabaya 2021
Distributed by Grasshopper Film, 12 East 32nd St., 4th Floor, New York, NY 10016
Produced by Antonio Russo Merenda and Hogir Hirori
Directed by Hogir Hirori
Streaming, 91 mins
College - General Adult
Human Trafficking; Islam; Women's Rights
Date Entered: 08/16/2022
Reviewed by Alexander Rolfe, Technical Services Librarian, George Fox University, Newberg, ORThis gripping documentary presents the work of the Yazidi Home Center, a small organization working to identify and extract Yazidi girls who were taken years ago as sex slaves (Sabaya) by ISIS. They conduct daring nighttime raids, guns drawn, into the Al-Hol camp where thousands of ISIS live in row upon row of tents. Some of the rescued women even return to the camp as infiltrators to help get more Yazidi out.
The documentary presents a compelling story, and the situation is tragic. For five years these Yazidi girls, many of them not yet 18, have been maltreated by the ISIS fighters who killed their fathers and brothers. But even while rooting for their rescue, I was puzzled about its necessity; the ISIS fighters are in a camp against their will, so why can't they go to the guards in the daytime and say these women are Yazidi and should be freed? I was also struck by the imperious treatment of women by the protagonists-- they take a non-Yazidi woman from the camp and tell her "Get in the car. You will stay with us until you've told us the truth."
And indeed the story is not quite what it seems. As this article details, there are easier ways of getting the women out, but many don't want out because they want to keep their children. The documentary is clear that their children (by ISIS fathers) are not welcome back in Sinjar province, and near the end it does show one of the women sobbing as they separate her from her son. But it's not just because of her family's hatred of all things ISIS; it's a routine part of the whole operation. As one of the rescuers says earlier in the documentary, "It is important for us Yazidis that these girls come back to their families. We want them to come back to their origin, religion, and culture." Apparently whether they want to or not.
A lopsided presentation like this could still be educational, and worth buying, but given the additional problems with lack of consent, I cannot recommend it.
Awards:Winner, World Documentary Directing Award, Sundance Film Festival; Winner, Best International Documentary, DocAviv; Winner, Jury Prize Documentary Competition, Hong Kong International Film Festival
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