Hina Anwar: Kandahar Review

The film Kandahar is an interesting take on a journey. It seemed like even though there was an overlying plot, with Nafas, the main character, trying to reach her sister by the eclipse, the journey was the most important part of the film. So important to the point that the film doesn't even end with Nafas meeting with her sister. It was also interesting  that Nafas spoke English. It helped broaden the audience of the film which I think was the point. It's for these reasons I agree with Roxanne Varzi's review of the film.

First of all the film seemed more focused on showing Afghanistan, rather than exploring the plotline. Throughout the journey the film shows many different hardships the people go through from children learning how to avoid land mines to amputees chasing after legs falling from the sky.  The film wasn't really documentary like, but more like Varzi said trying to have an impact with moving pictures. The director was trying to show Afghanistan through moving pictures which seemed effective because the film grabs the viewers attentions.  While watching the film, you see all the underlying context. The amputees especially grabbed my attention. It was just so sad how that people actually step on land mines. The whole thing just made me uncomfortable. It was also very visual with Nafas and her burka. It helped give the impression of the role of women in the middle east and gave the impression that Nafas was just  a faceless character so the viewer could focus on what was going on in the background.

Nafas, the narrator, was a part of the film that made it seem less documentary-like.  Even though the words she spoke were meant to evoke some kind of emotion, she was kind of bland and almost monotone. The woman was chasing after her sister to prevent her from committing suicide, you think she would emote more. It may have just been the actress, but it did nothing for the film. The whole time you are watching you see her journey, it would only make sense that she would show more emotion and try harder to get to her sister on time. When she saw the skeleton in the middle in the desert she overreacted and ran away for like a minute, then she calmed down.

Overall the film was interesting, I just found it lacking from the main character to the ending. What kept me interested from the beginning was that Nafas' sister threatened to commit suicide and we never get to know what happened. What was the point of making such a dire plotline to not even see it all the way through. I think the director could have approached the topic of Afghanistan differently, perhaps if the plot wasn't so serious. That way the viewer could focus on the surrounding scenes.