September Tapes, directed by Christian Johnston, was shot in Afghanistan during July 2002. A handheld camera, supposedly discovered by Johnston, has eight tapes; they are screened as Tape 1, Tape 2, and so forth. At the center of the film is Don Larson (played by George Calil), who has the painful experience of hearing his spouse describe her death in a cellphonecall from one of the airplanes that went down on September 11, 2001. Since Osama Bin Laden is identified as the mastermind of the disaster, yet has not been captured despite the successful American invasion of Afghanistan to topple the Taliban, Larson decides to go to Afghanistan with a translator, Wali Zarif (played by Wali Zaraqi), and a photographer, Sunny (played by Sunil Sadarangani), to track down Bin Laden. When he arrives in Kabul, he bulldozes around to find leads with an arrogant Ugly American demeanor. At a checkpoint in the city, he realizes that his best bet to find a bounty hunter is to be arrested; once in jail, he can learn more. After nearly twelve hours of incarceration, Larson emerges with a hot lead--a man named Babak. A police general gives him that lead after a five-hour lecture on why he should not pursue his quest. Nevertheless, the trio goes to a building outside town that is the contact point. Those at the building then lead him on a two-day trip to Khost, where he meets Babak. About to launch an attack near the Pakistani border, Babak invites the trio to tag along behind him. However, Babak's convoy moves more quickly, so the trio is ambushed after entering the town of Waziristan, and Zarif dies. Larson and the photographer then proceed to the border, where Larson dies. Presumably, Sunny's tapes are found so that the film is possible. At the end of the film, credits say that the entire set of characters and incidents is fictitious and then dedicate the film to those who lost their lives on 9/11. What is most fascinating about September Tapes is that facts about the situation in Afghanistan are laid bare as never before, since the interactions with the local people are unscripted. For example, Kabul is controlled by the Northern Alliance, the group that held out against the Taliban and received American support to topple that regime. Some women still wear blue burkhas, clearly fearing that Taliban terrorists in Kabul or elsewhere will suddenly appear and shoot them on sight. Outside of Kabul, those in control have guns, from bands of thieves to warlords and their armies. Americans are not popular, though the trio is allowed to roam the countryside because they are associated with Babak. As for Osama Bin Laden, a thousand loyalists at the Pakistan border guard him. American troops pointedly do not pursue the terrorist kingpin, and even refused to capture the leader when he was once in their grasp, so the job is left to rival bounty hunters (as Senator John Kerry revealed in the first presidential debate). The various bounty hunters, thus, may be inferred to be on the American payroll so long as they pretend to pursue Osama Bin Laden; once apprehended, they would be dropped from the payroll, so the Al-Queda ringleader is in no danger. However, apparently there is a bounty on the heads of Americans for messing around in a Moslem country. What is also revealing about September Tapes is that Larson does not fathom the reason for Al-Queda's attack inside the United States. Whereas Zarif argues that Al-Queda is angry about American support for Israel and use of Arab lands as military bases, Larson dismisses that explanation, preferring to believe that Osama Bin Laden is crazy. What could have been one of the best exposés of the year, in short, retreats into a Blair Witch Project (1999) mode, depriving the film of an unparalleled opportunity to make an important statement. MH
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