Film of the Month: Motley’s Law, A Documentary of An American Mother Who Became Afghanistan’s First Foreign Lawyer

PUBLISHED September 10th, 2021 06:00 am | UPDATED July 25th, 2024 02:30 pm

Many superheroes lead a double life, and Kimberley Motley is no exception. A former beauty queen and American mum of three, she’s also spent a decade championing human rights in the deeply chauvinistic courts of Afghanistan. The first-ever licensed foreign lawyer in Afghanistan, Kimberley tackles grim women’s rights cases, bullying bureaucrats, and assassination attempts with her trademark brand of sass. Wonder Woman is her favourite DC hero, we learn in Motley’s Law  – but this documentary on her life might well be its own superheroine movie.

In the wake of the United States’ disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan last month, Motley’s Law feels uncannily prophetic. Directed by Nicole Nielsen Horanyi, filming began in 2013 – a period when US forces and allies were handing over command to the Afghan military and preparing to withdraw. Then, as now, terror was in the air as the Taliban gained a foothold in the country. The documentary opens with Kimberley returning home to find a grenade lobbed through her window.

This violence is a sobering backdrop to the daily war that Kimberley wages in Kabul’s courts and prisons. We follow this gutsy defense attorney as she squares up to a male-dominated legal system, entangled in Sharia law and plagued by corruption and chauvinism. Born and bred in the US Midwest, she first came here in 2008 on a US government project to train Afghan defense attorneys, leaving her husband and children back home.

“I came here for the money”, she unabashedly admits, “I didn’t even know where Afghanistan was on a map.” She’s no idealistic do-gooder, and that’s what makes her so refreshingly likeable – and so level-headed in her commitment to justice. Invariably the lone woman – and foreigner – in a roomful of men, she handles everything from obstinate bureaucrats to harrowing tales of abuse with a savvy knack of working within the system.

“I’ve been here for five years, and I’ve seen a lot of nasty things,” she says. As a defense lawyer, she makes the rounds at women’s prisons to offer free legal advice. Nasty, indeed, describes many of her clients’ cases, including that of 21-year-old Nadia. Forced by her own husband to have sex with his friend, she now faces five years in prison for the crime of adultery. Though her appeal is ultimately successful, there is no happy ending for Nadia. In a country where 80% of women experience domestic violence and a husband’s permission is required for divorce, what other outcome could there be?

Juxtaposed against the turmoil of Kabul is another world, far away yet powerful enough to shape Afghanistan’s future. The documentary draws pointedly on televised snippets of Obama’s speeches on the US withdrawal, spotlighting the gulf between the then-president’s rhetoric and the grim reality on the ground. But there’re heartwarming moments too, as Kimberley reunites with her husband Claude and three children on her frequent visits home. It’s an astonishing glimpse of her juggling act as an American mother and Afghan lawyer that few could pull off.

By the end of the documentary, we see terrorist violence erupting in Kabul as US troops prepare to pull out – an eerie harbinger of the Taliban’s swift takeover of the capital last month. Back then, surging violence resulted in the postponement of the US withdrawal to maintain order. This time, no such hope is at hand for millions of Afghan women forbidden to work or even leave the house alone under Taliban rule. These dark times call for superheroes indeed, and Kimberley’s story is one such call to arms.

Motley’s Law is available for streaming on iwonder.