AT FIVE IN THE AFTERNOON

After the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan, girls were once again allowed to go to school. But Noqreh’s conservative father maintains his belief that girls shouldn’t be educated, although he concedes sufficiently to allow her to attend Koran school. Off she goes each morning, pretending to honor his wishes, but after he drops her off she changes her slippers for high-heeled shoes and heads for a newly opened secular school, where girls learn self-respect along with everything else. In a class on politics, Noqreh begins to voice her dream of becoming president of her country, taking former Pakistani president Benazir Bhutto as her inspiration...