Movie Review: In ‘The Judge,’ a Middle Eastern trailblazer upholds women’s rights

THE NEW YORK TIMES 
By Jeannette Catsoulis

Kholoud Al-Faqih is the subject of "The Judge." Credit Idle Wild Films

A conventional portrait of a highly unconventional woman, Erika Cohn’s documentary “The Judge” has a worthy subject in Kholoud al-Faqih, the first woman to be appointed, in 2009, to the Middle East’s religious courts. Dealing mainly with family disputes like spousal abuse, divorce and alimony claims, these courts are governed by Islamic law that can vary in interpretation from region to region. Further complicating matters are chauvinistic cultural traditions that can overrule religious dictates, resulting in adjudications that are fraught and combative. Against this backdrop of domestic strife, “The Judge” is, like its namesake, defiantly upbeat. [More]

THE JUDGE | Directed by Erika Cohn | Documentary 1h 16m