"ISIS believes that if they're killed by a woman they don't go to heaven, they go to hell." That's the opening line of go90's newest documentary, Fear Us Women. Following Hanna Bohman, a Canadian model who spent the last three years of her life fighting ISIS in Syria, the RYOT documentary explores Bohman's fight along with an all-female Kurdish army's quest for liberation and redemption in one of the most dangerous countries in the world. Executive produced by Olivia Wilde, the film gives an unfiltered look at the crisis in Syria that is ISIS.
Academy Award nominated director, David Darg, initially went to Syria to film the refugee crisis when he came in contact with foreign volunteers fighting against ISIS. Among those volunteers was Bohman, who had joined the all-female army known as the YPJ. The mission of YPJ isn't just to liberate women from ISIS oppression, but from the oppressive patriarchy throughout the Middle East.
Narrated by Bohman, the 27-minute film examines the evil and destruction ISIS has laid upon Syria and the valiant group of women soldiers who are willing to risk death to fight them. One question that's threaded throughout the project is why Bohman would leave her comfortable life, her safe country, to fight in one of the most dangerous countries in the world. "I believe they deserve to be as free as I am in my country," Bohman explains. "As a Western volunteer, we have the luxury of always going home. But over there, they don't. They're stuck there. They have to live it. They don't get to go home. That is their home. So I support them completely because they're trying to build something that we've taken for granted."
If you're intrigued by this issue and Bohman's journey, check out the documentary on go90.
