Sabaya

Hogir Hirori edits and films the harrowing rescues of women trafficked for sex and slavery by members of ISIS. The women are Yazidis, a Kurdish minority group who have been displaced by the Iraq War. Some women are being held in the Al-Hol refugee camp/prison which is overloaded with people and the guarding Syrian Defense Army is either useless or getting a payoff to ignore the atrocities inside.

"Sabaya" is what ISIS or Daesh call their sex slaves. Yazidis aren't practicing Muslims, but their monotheistic religion goes back to ancient Mesopotamia. There's plenty of horror stories discussed but the genocide in the Sinjar province, where ISIS killed thousands of men and kidnapped scores of women, severely impacted almost every person in this feature. Without the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, there'd be no ISIS.

Every subject's identity is protected and the men rescuing the women are simply referred to as "the infiltrators." In the beginning, they send an undercover woman in to help get information to secure the escape of a young woman. Director Hirori continues to interview the young woman and over time, she seems to be healing from the past wounds. There are car chases, shootouts, massive fires, and remarkable Syrian sunsets while survivors detail their traumatic experiences.

206 Yazidi women have been rescued by their organization called the Yazidi Home Center which is based in Syria. Not only does the Home Center have to fear retaliation from ISIS, but they're also close to an active war zone involving several Nations and ethnic groups. While the word hero gets thrown around way too often, these men are the epitome of one

My God, what a sad documentary, and many scenes, testimonies and strong situations must have been cut... I fear for the lives of these courageous common men, who give up their lives to save women and girls from sexual slavery (they are called Sabaya)... Very sad and very brave..

Very thrilling and touching depiction of the incredibly dire situation of 2.000 missing women and girls and the brave work of female volunteers and male supporters collaborating with the security police of the largest ISIS prisoner camp to locate and free enslaved women and girls. Very important film to shed light on the gruesome consequences of ISIS and a great inspiration to never give up fighting for a just cause.

The only way you would come to the realization that this wasn't 7th century is by the technology. The atrocities committed in these women is something that you wished were only found in history books and the Hadith. But this is what this cult teaches and don't let anyone tell you it doesn't. Taking female captives and making them your concubines, or forcibly converting them and marrying them is frightening to believe it still occurs in the 21st century. But it does in the Islamic world. People need to know this. This is a very important film. And those that claim it is not sanctioned are either ignorant or deceptive. This is reality. Heart wrenching.

Sabaya is an extremely hard watch. The documentary follows a group into Syria's Al-Hol, a dangerous camp in the Middle East, as they risk their lives to save a women being held by ISIS as abducted sex slaves. What the movie excels in is the use of no interviews. It follows the events as they rescue these women. The structure does get repetitive after a while, but it works. We hear these horrible stories from the women. It's extremely heart-breaking. It captures everything all so well, but this is extremely hard to watch. Grading something like this is difficult. I think this is well made but it's also a real downer. If you're up to it, Sabaya is one to look for.