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Freedom Fields review – Libyan female footballers hit back of the net

Nahiza Arebi’s visually arresting documentary focuses on the courage of the country’s fledgling national women’s team

Where Hollywood opted for facile gender-flipping in its recent Ocean’s 11 remake, it could have been more adventurous in search of meaningful #TimesUp-era material. This superbly made, stirring documentary introduces us to what you might call Fadwa’s 11 – the fledging Libyan women’s football team. And there’s something of the heist about the clandestine training sessions they are forced to organise in the face of Islamists trying to brandish the red card.

In the film’s desperate final act, as the near-disbanded team fight to attend a showcase international tournament in Lebanon, it even starts to feel like one-last-job territory. The women’s courage and perseverance, as well as their enormous potential symbolic impact for Arab society, shows up Hollywood hashtag feminism for what it is.

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from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2WgQYEL
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