This is one of those deeply upsetting documentaries where you are watching the viciousness and callousness when patriarchy is challenged play out in a rural Iranian village.

Sara was brought up by her father to ride motorbikes and believe that anything was possible for her. As an adult, she is a divorcee, something that is a rarity in a society where women who are not living with a husband or a father are regarded with suspicion. She also wears trousers, a cap over her scarf, and a fitted coat so she can ride her motorbike any time she chooses. She is running for the local council, the first time a woman has run for this position in the region. It is not surprising that she comes up against the bulwark of male cultural dominance, with men including her brothers telling her that it is not her place and she won’t succeed.

She puts the hard work in though, going family to family and speaking to so many women who usually don’t bother to vote. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to tell you that she gets elected, and this seems like a cause for celebration. She sets about fulfilling her election promises, which includes bringing gas lines to the village. She’s intent on bettering the prospects of women though, and for those men who don’t have official documentation as to their house ownership, which is required for connecting up gas, she offers to organise their documentation if they give half the ownership of the house to their wives.

She also speaks with students at an all girls school, asking them why so many girls drop out of education and encouraging them to sign a promise that they will stay on at school and not get married young. She helps some of them ride motorbikes through the village, an act of rebellion in itself.

It all feels great but of course the men in the village begin to close ranks. The way they do it is pretty awful, and there is a surreal moment where Sara‘s gender identity is questioned in order to try and bring her down.

Watching girls being married at 11 and 12 is deeply upsetting. There is a quote where a man says, “Give girls shoes but not paths”, and this sickeningly sums up a lot of their attitude. Give girls the ability to walk but give them nowhere to go so they stay silent at home.

Directors Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni do a good job at telling the story and some hidden camera work gives us access to some of the things that go on behind closed doors. The motif of motorbike riding for women is an important one and although the times where it is included in the story seem a bit contrived, it gives a good visual representation of what Sara is striving for.