Hollywoodgate

This is sobering and sad. How do people like the Taliban, most who have never in their lives known peace, adapt their gerontocratic, patriarchal system based on an extreme interpretation of Shar'ia Law to the complex needs of running a country?

They evidently tried, and failed. The country seems very much on a war footing, even in peace.

Hollywood gate doesn't show one shot of a woman. To the Taliban, of course, why should it? To the Taliban, A woman is a human 'cow' that you buy and raises your kids. The more educated these women are, the more they protest and demand rights, so you cut that out fast!

There's only one sentence if you're guilty of something - death. The Mafia are kinder. The IRA were kinder. Islam has many forms, and this one is nasty. It's a shame to see a modern country dragged back to the Dark ages in so many ways. Hollywood gate lets you see all all that. That's the depressing power of this.

The professional critics leave me uninformed: the documentary is courageously made and thoughtfully edited, but what does it tell us? It is likely that the Taliban's aim was propaganda but the most striking thing about this surprisingly amiable film is banality. If this was all that there was to the regime, then their victory in Afghanistan would be inexplicable and future tenuous. Ibrahim Nash'at voiceovers his experience of the suffering of the Afghan people and horrors of war (enabled at scale only by foreign machinery) but he has been severely constrained in what he can actually reveal. Some insight into the Afghan purpose is better than none and Nash'at's work is important. I hope he will thrive and be allowed more freedom and access in the future.

The Egyptian director was granted access to follow and film two Taliban military figures for a full year, beginning just days after the West's retreat from Afghanistan. The result is this remarkable documentary.

Criticism concerning what the documentary DOESN'T cover misses the point. Within the limitations imposed by his hosts (who threatened to kill him if they didn't approve of how he was filming) Nash'at captured fascinating sequences of the Islamic extremists on and off duty.

Although there are comic moments (including when the Taliban reveal an inability to perform a simple multiplication operation in their heads), the overall effect is chilling. The complete subjugation of females and the casual cruelty to which children are exposed add to the grim tenor of the film.

Anyone with any interest in history or international relations shouldn't miss this rare opportunity to pierce the veil surrounding this most barbaric of cultures, especially in light of the stated intention of those depicted to export their poisonous ideology by force of arms.

As the Americans abandoned Afghanistan, Ibrahim Nash'at went in, negotiating with a senior Tabliban official to film him as he took control of the national air force. Making this film was certainly a brave undertaking; but having seen it one is left wondering whether it was worth the effort. The world we are allowed to see appears devoid of both joy and competence (and maybe not coincidentally) utterly devoid of women; far from being the boys who've grabbed the sweetie jar, the new rulers of Kabul appear just a sad bunch of losers. When, however, we see the brigade of suicide bombers as part of a military parade, it's hard to extract even black humour. I hope the Afghani people eventually find freedom; but it's hard to see that coming any time soon.

The movie "Hollywoodgate" is a German-American documentary that offers rare insight into the Taliban's operations following the U. S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. It was shot at a former U. S. base in Kabul, known as Hollywood Gate I, where Taliban commanders took control of and repurposed $7 billion worth of abandoned American military equipment.

The director is restricted from filming anything related to the Afghan population or the country's situation. A soldier constantly shadowed him and could only capture what was permitted. As a result, the documentary centers on what the Americans left behind, the persecution of those opposed to the regime, and the daily life at the military base. Still, the film exposes the absurdity of a regime driven by obsessive religious beliefs, with clueless men in power, open prejudice against women, and, above all, a disturbing mentality where killing is seen as little more than a form of entertainment.

As the director reflects in the movie, he's unable to show the daily suffering of the Afghan people, but instead highlights "...the obscene power of those who worship war and the lasting pain it inflicts on generations..."