Kandahar: Movie & DVD Review (2001)

(Originally published 2001)

Mosen Makhmalbaf's "Kandahar" follows one woman's journey across the deserts of Iran to the border of Afghanistan.

There, in the now infamous city of Kandahar, Nafas (Nelofer Pazira), an Afghan journalist from Canada, hopes to save her sister's life before she commits suicide during a pending solar eclipse.

Hindered at every turn by circumstance, bad luck and especially by Taliban rule, which prohibits that women travel anywhere unescorted by men, Nafas' three-day quest to beat the clock and rescue her sister is just as harrowing and as dangerous as you might expect.

Inspired by Pazira's own true story and shot before Sept. 11, "Kandahar" feels more like a documentary than it does a dramatic feature, which is intentional.

Its substantial power comes not so much from its characters, who are thinly realized by Makhmalbaf's spare script and sometimes awkwardly portrayed by the film's non-professional actors, but from the haunting images of oppression, famine, fear and suffering that underscore everything.

From its opening shot of legless and one-legged men racing on crutches to the clouds of prosthetic limbs parachuting to the desert floor to the striking image of anonymous Afghan women defiantly applying lipstick and makeup beneath their burqas, "Kandahar" is filled with unforgettable moments.

As poorly dubbed and as crudely edited as it sometimes is, those qualities don't harm the film as much they give it energy. Indeed, "Kandahar" consistently feels as if it was shot on the fly, which fuels its sense of urgency and deepens its emotional weight.

Grade: A-