The astounding resistance of Afghan women
In the documentary Bread and Roses, filmed on mobile phones, exiled filmmaker Sahra Mani portrays three Afghan women risking their lives to oppose Taliban oppression—a poignant testament to their courage, three years after the fundamentalists regained power in Kabul.
Bread and Roses Available on Apple TV+
Sadness, fear, and admiration envelop us, as Bread and Roses concluded—nearly 90 minutes of immersion into the daily lives of a handful of Afghan women living under Taliban oppression. Sahra Mani, the exiled filmmaker behind this documentary, showcased at Cannes in 2023, taught these women to record themselves with mobile phones after Kabul fell on August 15, 2021. Thus, she equipped them to witness their astounding resistance within a metaphorical prison whose walls grow higher every day.
Prohibited from studying, working, or wearing anything but a full-body veil, Zahra, Sharifa, and Taranoom—the film’s three protagonists—defy every diktat with remarkable bravery.
Watch the official trailer of Bread and Roses
Zahra, a dentist, becomes a leader among protesters, crafting their slogans—“Work, bread, education!”—taking terrified phone calls from women evicted from their homes by the Taliban, enduring arrest, and upon release, spray-painting calls for freedom on the sleeping city walls of Kabul.
Sharifa, a former civil servant stripped of her job, suffocates under her parents’ roof, spending her days performing household chores. When she isn’t asleep, “a glass of hot water, a pen, and a book are the companions of (her) solitude,” as she laments “the days when girls could wear colorful clothes.”
Meanwhile, Taranoom, an activist, is forced to flee to neighboring Pakistan, where she resides in an icy home, helplessly watching her comrades fight against annihilation.
With Bread and Roses, supported by American actress Jennifer Lawrence and Pakistani Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, the daily violence faced by Afghan women and the heroism of their struggle become tangible for a Western audience often too far removed to fathom. A poignant and essential tribute.
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Afghanistan's escalating repression of women
New laws enacted in Afghanistan past September have sent shockwaves through the international community, banning women from speaking or showing their faces in public. Three years into their rule, the Taliban regime is enforcing an ultra-strict interpretation of Sharia.
“Whenever an adult woman leaves her home out of necessity, she is required to conceal her voice, face, and body,” stated the new law from the Afghan Ministry of Justice, aimed at “promoting virtue and preventing vice” among the Afghan population. As a result, women must be fully covered and silent in public spaces. Singing, reading poetry, or wearing makeup under the veil is also prohibited.
These restrictions form part of a 35-article legal framework ratified by Haibatullah Akhundzada, the figurehead of the Taliban regime. The laws imposed a rigid interpretation of Sharia in daily life. Since the Taliban seized power in 2021, fundamental freedoms for women, including expression, education, and movement, have been severely curtailed, reaching new extremes of repression.
The Taliban has defended the legitimacy of the law “rooted in Islamic teachings” but insisted it would be applied “with care.” In reality, enforcement of existing restrictions varies across regions, communities, and local officials.