Safar e Ghandehar (2001)

Director:

Mohsen Makhmalbaf

Writer:

Mohsen Makhmalbaf (writer)

Release Date:

24 October 2001 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

After an Afghanistan-born woman who lives in Canada receives a letter from her suicidal sister, she takes a perilous journey through Afghanistan to try to find her.

Plot Keywords:

Sister | Afghanistan | Taliban | Journey | Refugee

Awards:

3 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Ike Ogut	...	Naghadar
Nelofer Pazira	...	Nafas
Hassan Tantai	...	Tabib Sahid
Sadou Teymouri	...	Khak
Hoyatala Hakimi	...	Hayat
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Monica Hankievich
Noam Morgensztern	...	Three children (voice)
Zahra Shafahi
Safdar Shodjai
Mollazaher Teymouri

Also Known As:

Kandahar (International: English title)
The Sun Behind the Moon (International: English title)

Runtime:

85 min | USA:81 min

Country:

Iran | France

Language:

Persian | English | Pashtu | Polish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Malaysia:U | South Korea:All | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-7 | France:U | Germany:6 | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:PG | Australia:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Afghanistan Border, Iran

Company:

Bac Films

Trivia:

The background score repeatedly used is in Sanskrit. It is a Hindu devotional hymn called "Suprabhata".

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Film Geek (2005)

Fascinating and harrowing

Filmed on the Iran/Afghanistan border, KANDAHAR is a semi-documentary style movie that chronicles the perilous journey undertaken by an expatriate female journalist, Nafas, to reach the city of Kandahar, where she hopes to rescue her sister from committing suicide during an impending eclipse. However, Nafas's odyssey is really little more than a device to lift the veil on the poverty and hardship of life in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

Through a series of vignettes, the movie succeeds beautifully in revealing insights that are both fascinating and harrowing. It is almost impossible to imagine a culture so far removed from the relatively comfortable life enjoyed by more ‘civilised' nations. Young boys rock back and forth, reciting the Koran while learning to become Mullahs, pausing only to recite the meaning and purpose of the sabre and semi-automatic machine gun when prompted by their teacher; young girls have lessons in how to resist the temptation to pick up possibly booby-trapped dolls; a doctor treats his female patient by speaking to them via children as they sit either side of a makeshift screen, and conducts his examinations through a small hole in the screen; the threat and consequences of land-mines pervade everybody's life, and year-long waits for prosthetic legs are commonplace, so that prosthetics become a black-market currency.

True, the acting is poor – most of the cast are non-professionals, many never even having seen a moving picture before appearing in this film – but, the purpose of this movie was not to dazzle us with superior acting; it was to open an eye to the hardship endured by both men and women in an oppressive regime, and, at this, it succeeds beautifully.