Starring Nelofer Pazira, Hassan Tanti and Sadon Teymouri. Written and Directed by Mohsen Makmalbaf. In English and Farsi, with some English subtitles. Nafas (Pazira) is a Canadian journalist of Afghani heritage who has received a call from her sister who lives in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The sister has lost both legs to land mines and is depressed living under the repression that women endure under the Taliban. The sister threatens to kill herself in a few days when the impending solar eclipse arrives. Nafas arrives in Iran, and pays a family to transport her across the border to Kandahar. But early in their journey they are stopped and robbed by roving bandits, and the family decides to turn back to Iran. Nafas finds and pays a young boy Khak (Teymouri) willing to take her to Kandahar. She gets sick drinking contaminated well water, and meets a doctor Tabib Sahib (Tanti), an African-American who came to Afghanistan to "find God" and to fight the Soviets, but who has renounced the fighting and has dedicated his life to helping the inhabitants in an isolated small town. He helps her get as far as a Red Cross outpost, and then she hooks up with a fast-talking Afghani who helps her blend in with a wedding march headed for Kandahar. Part drama, part documentary, Kandahar was filmed close to the Iran-Afghanistan border, and uses non-actors and a series of events and stories loosely based on Pazira's real-life attempt to reach a childhood friend in Kabul. The friend had become extremely depressed after losing both her legs to landmines, and was a virtual prisoner as a female under the strict and opressive Taliban. Storylines that might appear fantastical are based on the lives of the various people in the film. Hassam Tanti is indeed an African-American convert to Islam who came to Afghanistan to fight against the Soviets. He was an extremist who came in search of God, learned Farsi, and eventually gave his life to helping impoverished people by providing medical aid. Polish Red Cross workers in the film are actual Polish aid workers who provide limbs to the many Afghans who have lost legs to the literally millions of landmines that foreign invaders have left behind. Several scenes and images stick in the memory. The use of dolls and shiny objects to conceal mines and young children being taught to never pick them up. Women being treated by a doctor having to be hidden behind a piece of canvas with only an eyehole to communicate or examine the patient. Dozens of Afghanis on crutches hobbling on one leg sprinting to recover artificial legs floating down from the sky on parachutes. Nafas being forced into wearing the "burka" that hide the face and entire body. Young boys furiously bobbing their heads, reciting the Koran with enthusiasm to impress a local mullah io order to stay in the school, partly because it's the only place where food is consistently available. The cost of war on innocent, downtrodden people is illustrated without speeches, and the dangers of religious extremism, and of a repressive male-dominated culture. What starts out as a journey by a particular character turns into a plea for help for Afghani women who are treated as chattel and objects to bolster the honour of their men. In fact, the culture and religion of the people illustrated in the film seem to support this extreme Islam - it seems to not simply be thrust upon them by the Taliban. Seeing refugees nomadically moving through the desert and Afghanis living in dwellings cut out of the baked ground, dwellings often destroyed in various wars, one can't help but feel empathy for these people yet again being bombed by an outside power for reasons beyond their control. Because it feels like a documentary and the stories are based on the people playing the parts, the "acting" is not particularly notable and some scenes move along slowly without much energy. But the vivid illustration of people in abject poverty living in harsh winds, deserts and neverending fighting makes Kandahar a fascinating look into an unknown and usually forgotten part of the world. If you would like to respond, please click the E-Mail Press Here To Go To The Review List Page