Iranian film shows reality
of Afghan children’s lives
■ Mohsen Makhmalbafs
‘Kandahar’ portrays a side
of Afghanistan overlooked
on many news broadcasts
‘Kandahar’
Mohsen Makhmalbaf
By Ryan Bornheimer
for the Emerald
Despite winning multiple
awards at film festivals throughout
the world last summer, Iranian
filmmaker Mohsen MaMimalbaf’s
“Kandahar” struggled to find distri
bution in the United States. Then
came Sept. 11 and the subsequent
war in Afghanistan. Suddenly, this
movie named after a Taliban-held
Afghan city was very marketable.
“Kandahar” opens with a bird’s
eye view of the forbidding moun
tains of Afghanistan. By now, these
landscapes have become common
images in American homes. And
there can be no doubt that watching
Makhalbaf’s movie, in light of
what’s happened in this former Tal
iban stronghold, gives “Kandahar”
added weight. But what the movie
offers that no CNN broadcast can is
the presentation of these beautiful
vistas as stark contradiction to the
brutality and oppression that’s be
come the daily existence of the peo
ple who live there.
The plot is simple. Nafas, an
Afghan woman who fled to Canada
as a teenager, is returning to her
homeland. Her sister, maimed by a
land mine and overwhelmed by the
mistreatment of women, has sent
her a letter in which she vows to
commit suicide at the time of the
next solar eclipse, only three days
away. Disguised in the head-to-toe
covering of the burka, Nafas enlists
the help of various locals to reach
Kandahar in time to save her dis
turbed sibling.
Though “Kandahar” has a
straightforward plot and beautiful
Courtesy Photo
photography, it has a documentary
style vitality, thanks to a run-and
gun structure. Nafas is on a
timetable, and since we’re tagging
along, the pace is non-stop.
The actors in the film are not ac
tors at all, but Afghan refugees from
camps near the Iranian border.
Their natural behavior imbues the
movie with a tactile — and at times,
heartbreaking — realism.
Likewise, Nelofer Pazira, who
portrays Nafas, is in fact a Canadi
an journalist and becomes the
movie’s makeshift travel guide. At
times, “Kandahar" feels like a per
verse episode of “Mr. Rogers’
Neighborhood.” Only we’re not be
ing taken on a tour of the Crayola
Crayon Factory, but a depressing
wasteland ravaged by decades of
war. This style has a purpose. The
way the Afghans in the movie have
come to take war and death for
granted offers a sobering glimpse
into a world so foreign to Western
sensibilities, some may not have
believed it prior to Sept. 11.
One especially surreal sequence
focuses on a Red Cross camp that
offers prosthetic limbs to an end
less parade of men who’ve suffered
the same fate as Nafas’ sister. The
way the scene unfolds, one would
think journeying to this “market”
for limbs is as natural as a visit to
the pharmacy to fill a prescription.
At one point, planes buzz the area,
dropping more prosthetics by para
chutes. Men on crutches race to
pick up the goods in a slow-motion
sequence that illustrates the sad ab
surdity of such an act.
“Kandahar” gives special atten
tion to the children raised in this
environment — young women in
particular. When Nafas arrives in a
border town, Afghan girls are being
told they will no longer be allowed
to go to school. Later in the day,
they are taught lessons in the dan
gers of picking up dolls that may be
rigged with explosives.
Later, we see students at a school
for boys, who chant the Koran and
are given pop quizzes on the useful
ness of swords and machine guns
in the war against “infidels.”
These are the moments that de
fine “Kandahar,” and they are not
easily forgotten. The movie is at
times disturbing, but never ugly. It’s
eye-opening but remains lyrical
and possesses an exotic beauty that
may surprise you. You can’t look
away, and despite the subject mat
ter, you won’t want to. The movie
itself provides hope that cinema
can still be a vital tool to reflect the
world we all live in.
Ryan Bornheimer is a freelance reporter
for the Emerald.
A&E brief
Siobhan to perform ‘pumped
up punk rock power pop’
“The Price is Right” host Bob
Barker encourages viewers to spay
and neuter their pets. So does Siob
han. Former Blondie-infatuated riot
grrrl Siobhan DuVall is playing
Sunday at John Henry’s.
DuVall’s rock life began in Van
couver, British Columbia, in 1989
when, after heing influenced by.
Blondie, the Ramones and Califor
nia hardcore, she formed an all
girl band, the Bombshells. The
Bombshells opened for the ’90s
legends Nirvana, Sublime and the
Goo Goo Dolls.
Now touring under her own
name, DuVall is sponsored by
Mission Snowboards and has ap
peared at the Telus World Ski and
Snowboard Festival. DuVall has
just released her first full-length
album, .“Star.”, The album, pro
duced by Vince Jones and pow
ered by Pat Steward and Doug El
liott (formerly of the Odds), fea
tures what DuVall calls “pumped
up punk rock power pop.”
Music from her new album will
be used in a Whistler-produced ex
treme sports video. Now DuVall is
coming to Eugene to play her own
special brand of girlie rock. Call
John Henry’s for more information
at 342-3358.
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