Kandahar (movie); disquieting…
I’m an odd one when it comes to movie-watching. Where do people find the time to watch so many movies? We’ve purchased Netflix subscriptions (http://netflix.com) for others as gifts, and for us have a “one at a time” subscription. As those familiar with Netflix will know, one wonderful aspect of their memberships is that you may keep a borrowed DVD for as long as you wish. Sometimes it is three months or more before I make time to watch a full film. And yet our daughter sometimes watches three a day! “Different strokes for different folks,” I guess!
Anyway, this past week my husband and I watched Kandahar. Here’s a write-up found on the web:
<<Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf presents this partially fictionalized documentary that illustrates the suffering of Afghan women under the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in the year 2000. The quiet, stark, powerful film follows an Afghan native, Nafas (the stunningly beautiful Noulifar Pazira), who left Afghanistan years back and got a journalism degree in Canada, upon which she built a career reporting the plight of women in oppressive nations. When she receives a letter from her sister, who is still in Afghanistan and who has decided that she will kill herself on the night of the next eclipse, Nafas decides to sneak back inside the border to rescue her. Traveling in a Red Cross helicopter to Pakistan, where she is lead on a treacherous all-night trek across an icy river and over deadly mountains, Nafas finally crosses over the border. But from there she must get to Kandahar, with only three days left before the eclipse. As a woman in Afghanistan she cannot speak out loud, travel without a husband, or show her face, elements which make her journey nearly impossible. Disguised in a heavy head-to-toe burka (the mandatory dress for women), she begins a Kafkaesque journey across the barren land, encountering obstacles both threatening and mesmerizing along the way. >> [above copied from this URL: http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=5603736]
I found this movie disquieting; my husband used the word disturbing. Certainly I’d agree it is an effective portrayal of the landscape and some of the universal ’sames’ and stark differences in day-to-day lives of different cultures. It is a movie that haunts me; at various odd times of day or eve since I viewed it, particular scenes pop into my mind.
Feeling privileged to count a few refugees from Afghanistan among my current circle of friends, I’m forever awed by the adjustments they’ve made and resiliency they’ve exhibited.
…the art of being human…
On a perhaps odd note, one surprise for me in the film was the use of three-wheeled vehicles! One tire in the front, and two in the back — tiny little cabs up front and open or canvas/cloth-covered flatbeds in the back. Adorable! I want one! I tried a quick Google search (web and images) but haven’t seen a photo or illustration of anything similar to what was used in the film. Those little cars/trucks really intrigue me.
more another time…
thoughts, reactions, comments — anyone?
