Roxanne Varzi's analysis of Kandahar while highly critical, it does make some very valid points. I do agree with Varzi that the characters are terribly under-developed. You never really get a good feel for any of the characters that come up within the film. Nafas never really explains why she was able to move to a different country with her family, yet her sister was not. What is bringing about her sister's potential suicide? Why is Nafas the only one who can prevent her sister from dying? The whole back-story of the movie is underdeveloped which makes it much harder to follow. Perhaps this was done on purpose, the whole film seems very chaotic and perhaps that is done to represent the culture that Nafas has chosen to envelope herself within.
Another area that could have been developed further are the elements of the film that include the American "doctor", while it's true that the american may present himself as a doctor to the villagers because he has a basic level of education that the other villagers do not, I still find myself confused as to why he was appointed a doctor within his community. How was this American able to become established enough within his community to be treated as a doctor. What did he do to bring about this level of trust, why didn't the community question who he was, or what his motives were.
The way the film ends while it is a good cliffhanger it also leaves the viewer (in my case at least) very frustrated. How can this much chaos occur? Why on earth would Nafas put herself through all this? What was the UN trying to do about it? Did Nafas ever get out? While the film was entertaining, informative, and made the viewer more aware of other cultures, it also left a lot to be desired.
No comments:
Post a Comment