KAMAY (2024) Vision Du Réel

 

Kamay is the name of a stubborn grass that grows in the middle of Afghanistan.  It is a symbol for the people who live there who refuse to give up and bow to authorities. It is a representation of the family of a girl named Zahra who killed herself after a run in with a teacher who was the dean of her school.

KAMAY the film is the story of Zahra’s family, who a year after her death are trying to not only get justice for her daughter but just get her possessions back from the authorities on Kabul.

This is a pastoral film that moves at the speed of life. It is a film where we watch the family as they work around their home, just trying to live their lives, while at the same time trying to connect with the people working for justice in Kabul. We also follow the family as they make the days long car ride trips into the city, through the mountains, the snow, and assorted other dangers.

KAMAY is a very moving film. It is a film perfectly designed to make us feel what the people on the screen are feeling. A brilliant use of pacing and minimal camera movement we feel as though we are moving through life with the family.  We feel the weight of their lives in ways that most films don’t give us. I was touched.

That said the pace of the film is very slow.  As I said it moves at the speed of life. If you either don’t like that or can’t click with it this is going to be a tough slog. I think what we see and what we experience is worth the trip, but that may not work for you.

Ultimately KAMAY is magnificent film that you should see, especially if you can see it on the big screen where you can fall into the images.

Recommended

In The Land of Brothers (2024) Sundance 2024

An Afghan family moves to Iran and spends decades living and waiting for citizenship, and most importantly a place where they belong.

This is a very good look at a side of life most of us really haven';t considered. Sure we have seen numerous films about being a migrant or a refugee, but we haven't seen one from the perspective of a family moving through Muslim Nations. More times than not it's a trip to Europe. While Europe figures into the tale it's not the focus. I mention this up front because this focus is what makes the film instantly worth seeing.

I really liked IN THE LAND OF BROTHERS a great deal. It's a film that took me a little bit to get into, I was expecting something slightly different, so I didn't warm to it at first. Then somewhere along the way I clicked with it's rhythms and was carried along. I loved that no one and nothing is what I expected, so much so that the ending, the final images moved me deeply...and more importantly haunted me as I went through the rest of my day after watching it.

This is one you'll want to see. 

Recommended

One Bullet (2023) Slamdance 2024

This is the 15 year story of filmmaker Carol Dysinger who went to Afghanistan to track down the story behind a phot of young man who was shot  by a single bullet outside his home. It resulted in a deep friendship with the young man's mother.

The film begins as a kind of police procedural as Dysinger follows some American soldiers as they investigate the shooting. If the person who did the shooting the family would get a pay out. When she interviews the boy's mother, Bibi Hajji, a connection was formed. Over the course of the film we watch as the women build bridges between themselves and their worlds.

I was not really in love with the film at the start. I thought the procedural portion of the film was too by the numbers. I never connected. However once Carol meets Bibi  the film flipped and I was hooked for the long haul. 

This is a great film. This truly is a film that shows us life during war time that isn't about war. It's about the cost and aftermath of armed conflict on regular people. It's a film that really shows us the effect of one death on a family and how you never get over it.

I was moved to tears several times because for the first time we are truly forced to see the pain and suffering too many people are being forced to experience. This is a vital and important film that transcends being just about the conflict in Afghanistan, but all the conflicts happening everywhere across the globe. In an age where more people think violence is the way to go go, ONE BULLET makes us understand that that the pain and suffering that results is much too high a cost.

Highly recommended.

RIDERS ON THE STORM (2023) DOC NYC

This is easily one of my favorite films of DOC NYC. It’s one of the most beautiful films I’ve seen in 2023 and it’s a film I am hoping to see again on a big screen because the images are so stunning I need to lose myself in them a second time.

This film is the story of Khaiber Akbarzada who is a champion player of buzkashi (a game involving a goat carcass) in Afghanistan.  As he is rising higher and higher in the sport the Taliban is coming crashing back into power. Forced to contend with the social changes that it brings on every level, and having a status that makes him a possible target Akbarzada must decide what to do to sat alive.

I’m not going to lie, this is a good sports bio made great by a slightly different subject and some of the most amazing cinematography I have ever seen. There is a tactile quality to the images that make you feel what you are seeing. Tryst me what is on screen is some of the most eye popping images you have ever seen with the images taking on a painterly quality. I dare your jaw not to hang open.

This film blew me away.

I have no idea what to say other than go see this on as a big a screen as possible, your eyes will thank me.

Highly recommended.

Transition (2023) Tribeca 2023

Journalist Jordan Bryon walks a razors edge as Afghanistan falls to the Taliban and he begins his transition from female to male. As the country explodes around him he can't let the Taliban fighters he is profiling know that he was born a woman. 

Edge of your seat biography will have you wondering how this is all going to come out. While we know on some level this will be fine, you can't be certain to what degree nor what is going to happen to the people around him. This is a hell of a tale that is expertly told.

Truth of the matter is that TRANSITION is the sort of absolutely great film that can get lost in a huge festival like Tribeca. Anyone I know who saw the film loved it, but many people simply didn't have it on their radar. You need to put this on your list of must sees and track it down either at the next festival or when it shows up in theaters.

NIGHT DOCTRINE (2023) Tribeca 2023

A young woman whose family was killed during the unending war in Afghanistan returns to the country to investigate the American Zero Squads that the brought terror in the night and left thousands of civilians dead.

This is a good look at a side of the Afghanistan war that isn’t usually covered, the night time raids that are only mentioned in passing and usually only when something goes horribly wrong.  This is a look at all the raids and it looks at all sides of the attacks, both the civilians and the soldiers. It’s disturbing tale that is going to make you wonder why this was allowed to go on.

What We Left Behind (2020) plays Ovid.TV December 16

One of the best films at 2020's DOC NYC explores the unfinished films left behind by the communist regimes that occupied Afghanistan from the late 1970's to 1991. 

A mix of found footage with interviews with the men and women who worked on them the film is not only a peak into what appears to be grossly under covered Afghan film industry but also a peak into the country's history- a history that we in American have no clue about since all we think is Taliban and warfare.

An absolute must see.

My Sunny Maad (2021) Animation First 2022

MY SUNNY MAAD is the story of a Czech woman who finds her country men boring and ends up falling madly in love with an Afghan man. After a two month courtship she moves to  Kabul and they marry.  As she tries to adjust to her new life she discovers that she and her husband can not have children and they take in a local boy with health issues.

This is a look at life in Afghanistan between the times of the Taliban. It’s a sober and bracing story of life in place most people only know from the news. It’s a film full of life, both the good and bad. We get a look at the patriarchal society that existed there even as women were given more freedom.  But we also get a loving portrait of some really good people.

This is a film that is very much for more mature audiences. Despite how the images look this is not a film for kids since it is dealing with some very serious subjects. It’s a film that is similar to, but lighter than SWALLOWS OF KABUL and FLEE.

I really like the film a great deal, however I know I need another viewing to fully unpack everything that is going on in the film. I also know I will need to space my next viewing out for a bit because this film has some deeply emotional and hard hitting moments.

Recommended

THREE SONGS FOR BENAZIR (2021)hits Netflix Monday

This is the story of young Afghan Shaista, who is newly married and in love with his new wife. He loves to sing her songs that delight and embarrass her. He wants to better himself and considers joining the military or picking poppies.

This is an excellent short film that will break your heart. Following Shaista over the course of several years it’s the story of one man trying to do the best he can for his family and the troubles he find. Its a film that quietly shows life in Afghanistan for just a regular guy. It’s a tough life where making ends meet is daily struggle. I was moved.

I also kind of wish this was a feature. There is a jump across years toward the end of the film and I am very curious to know what happened in the jump. Actually we know, but I would like to have seen what transpired. My one wish for the end of the film would be to know where things are now. With the events obviously before the Taliban retake over of the country, I want to know where Shaista and his family are now.

Highly recommended THREE SONGS FOR BENAZIR starts on Netflix on January  24th

What We Left Unfinished is released August 6

One of the best films at 2020's DOC NYC explores the unfinished films left behind by the communist regimes that occupied Afghanistan from the late 1970's to 1991. 

A mix of found footage with interviews with the men and women who worked on them the film is not only a peak into what appears to be grossly under covered Afghan film industry but also a peak into the country's history- a history that we in American have no clue about since all we think is Taliban and warfare.

An absolute must see.

Unseen Films Stay At Home Festival: Film Twenty Four: Patience Stone (2012)

This is a repost of the second piece I wrote on THE PATIENCE STONE. Its a film that has haunted me longer than the four months mentioned here. Where I honestly can't remember most films I saw at Tribeca that year, I remembered this one. It is a small but powerful film worth your time.

It is currently on several streaming services.

I saw the PATIENCE STONE back at Tribeca 2013. When I saw the film I liked it. (My original review can be found here) And while I liked it I kind of expected it to end up like most of the 80 or so films I saw at the festival, half remembered two weeks after it's over.

That's not what happened.

What happened was the film haunted me. It stayed around the fringes of my psyche and dared me to forget it. I couldn't forget it and some four months on I'm still thinking about the film.

Actually what I'm thinking about is Golshifteh Farahani, the star of the film. She turns in one of the best performances of the year and maybe a couple of years. If the film works, and it does, its because she grabs you by the throat and makes you feel all of her characters pain and anguish and hope. She is on screen for the entire film and she makes every second count.

The plot of the film for those who don't know concerns a woman in an unnamed country taking care of her catatonic husband. He was injured in a stupid fight, and its left to her to care for him as the country and her neighborhood is engulfed in warfare. With time to kill and not expecting him to really recover she pours out her life to him as if he were the mythical patience stone, which will take all of your sorrow and then break leaving you with a new start.

It may not sound like much, but trust me Golshifteh Farahani makes it worth seeing. This is one of those performances of the ages. Assuming the right people see it look for the film,and Farahani's performance to end up on end of year lists. Sadly the film will not get Oscar notice since it was Afghanistan's entry last year, which means that there will be no Oscars this year. Its a major loss because if there were justice she'd at the very least get a nomination.

Do yourself a favor and go see it. Trust me this is one you'll want to see before your friends come to tell you about it.

Swallows of Kabul (2019) Animation First 2020

Love, life and death under the Taliban.

Animated using a watercolor style Zabou Breitman, Eléa Gobbé-Mévellec have made a film whose undeniable beauty runs counterpoint to the fear and sadness in the tale of four people living in Kabul. It is a bold move that helps to keep the atmosphere from becoming completely maudlin as one character’s act sets in motion a series of events that will bring about their ends.

I admire Swallows more than I like it. I tend not to like downbeat stories and those that are sadder I tend to try to distance myself from more. While there is no doubt that this is a great film this is not a film that I would watch again. I simply don’t want to go to the place it takes me again. In fairness to the film I will say that other than quibbling about a few changes from the novel there is nothing really wrong with the film, so much so that if you like bittersweet tales this film is for you.

Recommended (despite my reservations) for it’s beauty and powerful story telling when it plays tomorrow at Animation First. For tickets and more information go here

Angels Are Made Of Light (2018) NYFF 2018

Angels Are Made of Light follows the lives of several students and teachers in a Kabul. We watch as they go through their daily routine and ponder their lives and futures.

Good but kind bland film about life in a country at war. We watch the daily life of the various subjects while listening to their thoughts in voice over narration. It gives us insight into what is going on in their hearts but it never quite generates the necessary level of excitement, at least to support a two hour film.

The problem is the film is so very earnest in what it is doing and seeming so intent on being good it ends up being bland. In a weird way I got the sense that it wants to be a purely observational film and it stands back and outside a lot of what it is documenting. And yet there wasn’t enough insight into the various people so they added the voice overs. It’s beautiful to look at but it never is quite compelling.

While I like the film, watching it I get the feeling that the film has gotten slots at festivals such as Camden and New York not because the film is truly great but because the festivals have respect for James Longley, the film’s director. I say this because there are so many other better films out there that have not gotten a shot at the big stage but should have.

Recommended for those with interest in the subject but not for general audiences who are advised to look elsewhere.

Angels Are Made of Light (2018) Camden International Film Festival 2018 Toronto 2018

Angels Are Made of Light follows the lives of several students and teachers in a Kabul. We watch as they go through their daily routine and ponder their lives and futures.

Good but kind bland film about life in a country at war. We watch the daily life of the various subjects while listening to their thoughts in voice over narration. It gives us insight into what is going on in their hearts but it never quite generates the necessary level of excitement, at least to support a two hour film.

The problem is the film is so very earnest in what it is doing and seeming so intent on being good it ends up being bland. In a weird way I got the sense that it wants to be a purely observational film and it stands back and outside a lot of what it is documenting. And yet there wasn’t enough insight into the various people so they added the voice overs. It’s beautiful to look at but it never is quite compelling.

While I like the film, watching it I get the feeling that the film has gotten slots at festivals such as Camden, Toronto and New York not because the film is truly great but because the festivals have respect for James Longley the film’s director. I say this because there are so many other better films out there that have not gotten a shot at the big stage but should have.

Recommended for those with interest in the subject but not for general audiences who are advised to look elsewhere.

Human Rights Watch 2018 Short Takes: WOMEN OF VENEZUELAN CHAOS, SILENCE OF OTHERS and A THOUSAND GIRLS LIKE ME

WOMEN OF VENEZUELAN CHAOS
Low key look at the lives of five women who are contemplating their future in Venezuela where the economic crisis has resulted in staggering inflation, food and medicine shortages and increasing levels of dangerous violence. Do they stay or do they go?

Low key film is focused entirely on the women and not the world outside. Director Margarita Cadenas turns her camera on the women and lets them talk with the result we come to understand the madness of the country on a human level.

Worth a look when it plays June 15 and 16.

SILENCE OF OTHERS
After the death of dictator Francisco Franco the Spanish government pass a law saying that the past terrors of the Franco years were to be forgotten. There would be no prosecutions or memorials just a false forgetting of what happened. Now forty years on those who didn't live through the terror have have no idea what happened. However some people can't forget and thy are taking steps call for an accounting and find out what happened to missing loved ones.

Solid look at at how it is never too late to ask for justice. We get sucked in as victims try to get the government to address the past by filing human rights lawsuits in countries outside of Spain. I sat riveted for the 90+ minutes as the story unfolded and things slowly moved forward.

Definitely worth a look when it plays June 19 and 20.

A THOUSAND GIRLS LIKE ME
A portrait of Khatera who was the first woman to attempt prosecution under a 2009 Afghani law that seeks to prevent sexual abuse of women. In this case Khatera wants to prosecute her father whose repeated abuse has left her pregnant.

This film give a real on the ground look at what is happening in Afghanistan. Its a film that lays out the cost on human terms not only of the abuse but also of the countries refusal to change it's ways. Its both chilling and sad. It will move you to tears and pisss you off.

The film plays June 19 and 20.

For ticket and more information on these or other films at the festival go here.

Afghan Cycles (2018) Brooklyn Film Festival 2018

Afghan Cycles is a look how some women in Afghanistan are taking to the streets in an expression of freedom. Focusing on a group of women who ride together and hope to compete around the world. We watch as they go through their lives including dealing with the displeasure that some traditionalists throw their way.

Showing Afghan society in ways we have not seen before Afghan Bicycles is a bittersweet gem. We know it’s going to be not be all sunny days at the outset when in present day Nice France we meet one of the women as she reflects on what has transpired. The film then flashes back four years to show us all the women together.

What makes this film so special is that it is not just another film about Afghanistan full of soldiers, radicals and destruction. Here is life beyond the typical media portrayal. While the film is the battle between fundamentalism and modern thought the film opens everything up to show us life lived. We see life in the country as it is truly lived. There are bright colors and laughter. We see points of view that are not just one thing or another.

As a former bicycle enthusiast this film made me smile. The joy and freedom the women experience while riding is one that is not unfamiliar to me. I was delighted at wachingthem ride. I was also delighted at seeing the country without guns everywhere.

This is a super film. I don’t know what else to say beyond that except buy a ticket for when it plays at the Brooklyn Film Festival on June 7 and 8. For more information and tickets go here.

Wolf and Sheep (2016) MOMA Doc Fortnight 2017

Writer Director Shahrbanoo Sadat spent part of her childhood living in the countryside of Afghanistan. She has teken her love and respect for the land and the people and turned it into the magical WOLF AND SHEEP.

A fictional account that is very rooted in the documentary the film is more a slice of life as opposed to a full on narrative. I know we are supposed to see some sort of narrative in the life of the characters, and the children in particular, but the thread is very fine and it's better not to get tangled up in any notion of plot and just take it as a magically realistic documentary.

Bookended by somber events, the death of a villager by cancer and the coming of unknown gunman the film presents a rather hopeful portrait of life being lived in between. Yes there are hardships and the like but the people go on. They are good people, like anywhere in the world. Its easy to understand why Sadat felt compelled to make a film about them, they are people you would want to meet in real life.

And because of the present situation here in the US it's hard not to reach the ending and ponder Trump Administration's attempt to ban refugees from the US. After seeing the film one would be hard pressed not to offer the fleeing villagers a place to live.

This is one of the best films at MOMA's Doc Fortnight and very recommended.

For tickets and more information go here.

Frame by Frame (2015) in LA and opens Friday in New York- Go See it

Currently open in LA and opening this Friday at New York's IFC Center FRAME BY FRAME is a stunning visual experience. Its also one hell of a ride.

The film follows four photojournalists in Afghanistan as they record the events of their country. That may sound like nothing special but consider that when the Taliban controlled the country taking a photo could get you thrown in jail or killed. The journalists show us what they do, talk about their lives and explain why they do it.

Add FRAME BY FRAME to the list of recent films of photography that are great. Add this to the list of films that include FINDING VIVIAN MAIER, EDDIE ADAMS SAIGON '68 and SALT OF THE EARTH. This is one of those films that makes you wonder why a film about stopping time makes such a great subject for something that is all about moving through time. This is a film that will blow you away visually and at the same tie make you realize that you really don't know or even understand what is going on half a world away.

You'll forgive me for not going on and waxing poetic about the film instead of grabbing you by your lapels and telling you to drop what you're doing and go see this. I'm really not in a position or frame of mind to do more than say "go see this". Its not the film's fault it's just that I'm burned out after over doing on a couple of film festivals.

I was not supposed to see FRAME BY FRAME and despite my desire to see it I was avoiding it because I knew that if I liked it I couldn't write the film up in a way that was deserving of it's quality. I was fine until through an exchange of emails with someone connected to the film a chance to see the film right then fell into my lap. Feeling ambitious I said yes...and well I fell in love with the film while at the same time exhausted my ability to write it up by talking it up before I could get to my lap top. I have a very set routine about writing and talking after a film, there are certain no nos and I did them all. The result I lost a large number of my words before I could get them on paper.

On the other hand,the six that survived are the most important THIS IS GREAT GO. SEE IT. That's all you need to know.

FRAME BY FRAME is open in LA and starts Friday in New York. You know what to do.

(And do I need to warn you there are some disturbing images?)

Dukhtar screens Saturday as part of Queens World Film Festival at the Museum of the Moving Image

This Saturday at the Museum of the Moving Image DUKHTAR is running as part of the Queens World Film Festival. I had seen the film as part of the South Asian International Film Festival last November and it ended up on my best of 2014 list. The film is the rarest of the rare a social drama about child brides that is also a tense action thriller. That may sound impossible but trust me it works.

Here is my review of the film from November:

Pakistan's entry for the Oscars is a treat for anyone getting it to see it at The South Asian International Film Festival this evening. I've seen a good number of the Oscar hopefuls and this is only the second one that deserves to be considered for the award. Its one of the rarest of the rare a touching drama that is also a kick ass thriller. This may very well be the best film at SAIFF and it may very well end up on my best of 2014 list as well.

The film is set in motion when a father makes a deal to seal peace with another tribe by giving the hand of his daughter in marriage to another tribal leader. This doesn't sit well with the girl's mother who was given in marriage when she was fifteen, especially since the groom is many decades older. Grabbing her daughter on her wedding day she bolts out of the village in a desperate run for her family o the other side of the country. Things take a possible hopeful turn when they fall in with a truck driver named Sohail which means God Protects.

Working on several levels the mixing of drama and action films allows the film to do several things that shouldn't work. First it heightens the the tension and the sense of drama in ways that shouldn't work. The sense of good and bad and right and wrong are made very black and white even though we can see the grays. We know who's good and bad but we also see the levels of emotion and thoughts with in them.

The mixing also allows corners to be cut. We can jump to conclusions and not mind because what under normal circumstances could have been a talky film about child marriage and the rights of women are now in a chase frame work where we don't need long explanations and short hand notes are completely fine with the audience. The who's and the whats can be reduced to bullet points because there is no time for long winded discussion.

Helping everything is gorgeous visual style and driving score that makes everything move like the wind and fear for our heroines.

This is a great great film...

....and its so good looking you'll want to see this on the BIG screen when it plays tonight.

An absolute must see.

The website for the Festival can be found here
The Museum of the Moving Image page for the film is here.

Cinema of Resistance: Far From.... Afghanistan(2012) and Vietnam (1967)

As part of the Cinema of Resistance series at Lincoln Center the Film Society s running Far From Vietnam, a 1967 protest film put together by Chris Marker and directed by Alian Resnais, Claude Lelouch, Agnes Varda, Claude Lelouch, Willian Klien and others; and Far From Afghanistan, a similar film with a look at Afghanistan. I got to see the film early and here are my thoughts.

Johnson and McNamara

Far From Vietnam(1967)
Best described as a pure propaganda and a time capsule of a time not so long ago this film is essentially a series of short films by famous directors stitched together to form a long protest piece. While it is an intriguing film at times, it's also not something that I can imagine anyone wanting to see more than once. Its a protest piece for a war long over, and while it has reflections in our middle east entanglements the specifics muffle some of the echoes.

This is  a hard film to describe completely owing to it's fragmentary nature.We get lots of talk of Castro and Che, we see the construction of individual bomb shelters in North Vietnam, Jean-Luc Godard talks about his feelings toward the war, Resnais has directs a fictional piece about a writer talking about whether to write about the war, we see the family of an American man who set himself  on fire in protest for the war and an ex-pat Vietnamese woman in Paris talking about her reaction, we watch a parade in New York and New Yorkers trying to deduce what Napalm is. There is lots of intellectual talk and war footage. It is very much an intellectuals protest against the war. Its like overdosing on Vietnam protest films.

How is is it?

The answer to that question has a couple of different answers which of course depend on how one sees the film 45 years on.

First off it's not really history. The film is a manifesto of protest so it leaves a great deal out. You can't watch it to really learn history I mention this because the film is French and the French were tied up in Vietnam before America. The film only glosses over the French's role in the war and paints the US solely as the bad guy even going back to the late 40's and early 50's. It also doesn't mention the French torment over Algeria that had been raging at roughly the same time and which in some ways mirrored what they were protesting in Vietnam.(Its also been speculated in some circles that the violent French reaction to the American adventure in Indochina was a way of dealing with guilt over Algeria -but I digress)

The film also completely ignores much of the social upheveal that was going on in the US and the world. The Civil Rights and Black Power movements are mentioned but there is no context since the film was made for the audience in 1967 and not for now. There is no context and quite frankly how the war was perceived in actuality requires lots of context- god help you if you don't know the context (though I'm certain anyone interested in seeing the film will be aware of the context)

As history it's simply an artifact of a time gone by. Granted it is of historical importance and a means of getting into a mind set, but it's not straight history. Don't see this film expect to learn all you need to learn. (And since it's not even remotely trying to be fair in its presentation I'm not going to discuss how it paints the Vietnamese and anyone against the war as good, and those for it as knuckle dragging imbeciles.)

As an entertainment it's a tough slog. I made it through because the historian in me wanted to see the what the film was presenting, but some of the film, the intellectual droning on put me near sleep (Godard's piece had my eyes closing). There are some cool bits, the making of the shelters, the look at the social divide in America, Tom Paxton's protest song are wonderful, but there is a great deal of really dated stuff.

If you are interested in the war and the history of protest, not to mention any of the directors involved, by all means see it when the film plays for a week at Lincoln Center starting on the 28th, if not take a pass.

Far From Afghanistan (2012)

Mother and sick daughter.What this has to do with the war is anyone's guess

The one you really should take a pass on is Far From Afghanistan a modern day version of this earlier film. This two plus hour film covers all the bases anyone against the war would hit and does so so unimaginatively you wonder why they bothered.

I'm not going to lie, I walked out 80 minutes in. There was nothing I hadn't seen before and I had no patience to stay to the end. Worse there were several sequences that completely baffled me as to their point and reason for inclusion.

The film is a series of short pieces, some that have a point, some that don't. I'm still not sure what to make of the opening sequence about the girl with the swollen stomach needing blood. Its more something that belongs in a vampire film than a documentary. It's a sequence seems to mean something but never gets around to explaining what it is. This is included in a film about the war why?

The sequence that follows, with the scenes of serene American life with the sounds  and descriptions of the war, is cliche and much too long. Similarly cliche is the bombsite footage cut to Eisenhower's Military Industrial complex speech. The footage of the Afghan freedom fighters from the early 1980's is kind of chilling but putting the kicker of when it was shot at the very end removes any kick from the piece because we are left to ponder what we are watching. Hostory may repeat but at the same time unless there is a context you can't make the connection.

While some pieces work, say the piece on the dangers of girls going to school, they are at best weak versions of a TV news story without a point.

At no time did I connect to anything on screen...so after 80 minutes of this nonsense I went home.

I should probably say that the entire time I was watching the film all I could think of was the much better MY AFGHANISTAN which played at the Human Rights Watch Film festival a couple of months back. Given the choice see that instead. That film ill move you and will make you realize how poor this film is.