KANDAHAR
RECEIVES THE FIRST AWARD NOMINATION OF 2002
Kandahar
(Safar e Ghandehar) is an Iranian film, with
a lot of spoken English, which proceeds as if a documentary
because the conditions portrayed are real. Nafas (played by
Nelofer Pazira), an Afghani refugee who fled to Canada when
the Taliban came to power, receives word in 1999 that her
sister will commit suicide at the last solar eclipse of the
millennium due to unbearable conditions under the Taliban,
both as a woman and as a casualty of a landmine. (The story
is based on the plight of the lead actress in the film.) Nafas
tries to enter Afghanistan in order to prevent her sister
from killing herself, but she is turned back at the Pakistani
and Tajikistani borders, so she tries and succeeds in crossing
from Iran. The film follows a familiar on-the-road scenario,
with revelations about the now-defunct Taliban regime as the
trip progresses. (The aim of the film, to expose the barbarity
of the regime, was instead accomplished by the events of 9-11.)
Shortly after the film begins, she pays an Afghan man $100
to cross the border with his family; she is to be smuggled
under a burqa as his fourth wife. We learn that his wives
come from more than one ethnic group, despite ethnic enmity
otherwise portrayed in the film, but we can only surmise that
he is returning to his homeland because he has been expelled
by the Iranian government because he worked in the country
illegally, as the film Baran (2001) suggests. Before
crossing the border in a three-wheel vehicle, UN officials
caution the family about landmines (Taliban dolls contain
bombs to maim girls who might seek to play with them), and
they give each member of the family $1 and a UN flag. The
man strongly insists that Nafas wear the burqa so that his
reputation will not be damaged. However, robbers take all
possessions from the family at knifepoint, including the vehicle,
so they turn back to Iran, as they must otherwise make the
rest of the trip on foot, penniless. Nafas then engages Khak
(played by Sadou Teymouri); for $25 the ten-year-old is to
be her guide to Kandahar. Khak is available because he has
been kicked out of a Taliban school for lack of educational
progress. Khak is the only source of financial support for
his mother, who can neither work nor attend school according
to the Taliban dictates; her husband is dead, and her other
children are absent or nonexistent. As they proceed on foot,
Khak finds a ring on a skeleton and tries to sell the object
to Nafas. Soon, Khak gets water from a well, but she becomes
sick after drinking the impure water. She then goes to the
dwelling of a healer, Tabib Sahid (played by Hassan Tantaï,
an African American rumored to be the prime suspect in a 1980
murder of an Iranian dissident in Bethesda), who went to Afghanistan
"in search of God" and now pretends to be a doctor,
since most Afghanis die from such simple maladies as dehydration,
diarrhea, and malnutrition, reminiscent of the major causes
of death under the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Since he cannot
grow a bear, as required by the Taliban, he glues hair onto
his face. After examining her through a hole in a cloth hung
from the ceiling of his tent, Sahid urges Nafas to drop Khak,
for another fee, as he is doubtless trying only to extract
money from her and does not really know the way to Kandahar.
She agrees, but the boy tries to sell her the ring; when she
refuses, he gives the object to her anyway. Nafas then approaches
a Red Cross encampment, pleading for a vehicle to take her
to Kandahar. The mission of the agency is to provide leg prosthetics
to those who lose limbs due to the landmines, and we see several
cases of Afghan men and women who have stumps for legs but
have waited for up to a year for their prosthetics to be parachuted
to the camp. Finally, Sahid drives her to the outskirts of
Kandahar, where Nafas tries to join a wedding procession;
but soon all the women are robbed and taken prisoner, so she
never gets a chance to see her sister. The grim picture of
life under the Taliban, which paints an agenda for post-Taliban
aid, earns for Kandahar, directed and written
by Mohsen Makhmalbaf, the first nomination for the year 2002
-- as best film exposé. MH
BALLOTING
FOR BEST POLITICAL FILMS OF 2001 CONTINUES
Political Film Society members can now choose the
best political films of 2001. Mark your ballots below. For
the category EXPOSÉ, which recognizes the importance
of raising political consciousness by bringing to light little-known
facts, select the best five in the ballot below:
| FILM
TITLE |
ACCEPT |
DROP |
UNDECIDED |
CONTENT |
| Ali |
( ) |
( ) |
( ) |
reveals
Muhammed Ali’s views on racism |
| Baby
Boy |
( ) |
( ) |
( ) |
shows
why Black youth stray into crime |
| Behind
Enemy Lines |
( ) |
( ) |
( ) |
shows
the brutality of Serbs in Bosnian War |
| Born
Under Libra |
( ) |
( ) |
( ) |
gives
details of sex discrimination in Iran |
| Bread
and Roses |
( ) |
( ) |
( ) |
true
story about janitors strike in LA |
| Greenfingers |
( ) |
( ) |
( ) |
how
prisoners became expert gardeners |
| The
Hidden Half |
( ) |
( ) |
( ) |
gives
details of sex discrimination in Iran |
| The
Iron Ladies |
( ) |
( ) |
( ) |
a
gay volleyball team triumphs in Thailand |
| Journey
to the Sun |
( ) |
( ) |
( ) |
exposes
Turkey’s anti-Kurd policies |
| Lumumba |
( ) |
( ) |
( ) |
exposes
the truth about the Congo patriot |
| Our
Lady of the Assassins |
( ) |
( ) |
( ) |
depicts
chaos in the streets of Colombia |
| Uprising |
( ) |
( ) |
( ) |
how
Jews in Warsaw frustrated the Nazis |
Vote
below for the five films that best raised consciousness of
the need for greater HUMAN RIGHTS:
| FILM
TITLE |
ACCEPT |
DROP |
UNDECIDED |
CONTENT |
| Atlantis |
( ) |
( ) |
( ) |
imperialistic
conquest should never occur |
| Born
Under Libra |
( ) |
( ) |
( ) |
lunacy
of sex discrimination in Iran |
| Bread
and Roses |
( ) |
( ) |
( ) |
even
illegal alien workers have rights |
| The
Closet |
( ) |
( ) |
( ) |
job
discrimination against gays does not pay |
| Focus |
( ) |
( ) |
( ) |
why
anti-Semitism poisons everyone |
| Greenfingers |
( ) |
( ) |
( ) |
why
the death penalty should be abolished |
| The
Hidden Half |
( ) |
( ) |
( ) |
lunacy
of sex discrimination in Iran |
| The
Iron Ladies |
( ) |
( ) |
( ) |
gays
should be allowed to compete in sports |
| Journey
to the Sun |
( ) |
( ) |
( ) |
why
the Kurds deserve justice in Turkey |
| Lumumba |
( ) |
( ) |
( ) |
how
U.S. policy tolerated Mobutu’s tyranny |
Political
Film Society members must return ballots by March 1, 2002.
A meeting of the Board of Directors of the Political Film
Society will convene at 8481 Allenwood Road, Los Angeles,
on Saturday, March 2, 2002, at 7:00 p.m. to count ballots.
All Political Film Society members are invited.
