Panj é asr

In "At Five in the Afternoon", we follow the fortunes of a young woman in Afghanistan and her family. Nogreh is caught between two worlds. On the one hand, she attends a school where the teacher encourages girls to become doctors, engineers and even President. At the same time, Nogreh must wait until she steps out of her father's home before she lifts the veil of her burka and trades flat-soled shoes for high heels.

Nogreh is a very idealistic and ambitious young woman who emulates Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan and dreams of being President of her own country some day. Yet she has been kept in a state of childlike naivety and ignorance about politics at home and abroad, due to the teachings of the Koran, Shariah (Islamic law) and the Taliban.

It is exciting to hear the young girls debate the status of women in their country. But the film is also sympathetic and understanding toward the old Afghanistan, symbolized by Nogreh's father. He bewails that "Blasphemy has overrun the city" and the world, as he knew it, has ceased to exist. To add pathos to the situation, he feels he can confide his feelings only to a dumb animal -- his donkey, who "knows nothing but hay".

The film's title echoes a recurring verse from Federico Garcia Lorca's poem, "Lament for Ignacio Sanchez Mejia", about the goring of a bullfighter. Like Lorca's poem, "At Five in the Afternoon" is clouded over by a somber atmosphere of tragedy, death and despair. Yet the film remains remarkable for its astonishingly hopeful -- and indeed radical and revolutionary -- vision of hope for Afghanistan and indeed all of the Arab world.

This movie will be very moving, if you can sit still and take the opportunity to be drawn into the disturbing situation of a destroyed Kabul after 25 years of war. The story of Noqreh who dreams of becoming president while hiding her school attendance from her conservative father is very intense. Togehter with the sister-in-law and her sick child, Noqreh and her father are looking for a place to live in the ruins, they briefly stay in a crashed airplane and the bombed parliament building, before leaving the city for a more traditional country side... The camera observes, taking its time to capture the essence of the moments and the characters, including a staged debate between the two presidential candidates in the girl school. While the women start discovering some freedom (sun-umbrellas; dressing shoes), the men are struggling with keeping their faith in the new realities and everybody -including truck loads of returning refugees from Pakistan - is only trying to survive. At the moment, when a few helicopters flying over the head of the traveling family and they look up, I realized how deeply drawn I was into the movie and its very sad reality - so out of place seemed this modern technological machine compared to the mule-drawn carriage in a harsh landscape. Highly recommended, if you like Rohmer, Tarkowski or Mambety - 9 out of 10 stars!

Having loved 'The Apple' I was very much looking forward to seeing this, and though it has some very sad and beautiful moments as a whole I thought it lacked a sense of purpose. Having just seen the marvellous 'Osama', although perhaps a little unfair to compare it, that was more straight forward and had a far more emotional pull. The director does get amazing performances from the non-acting cast but occasionally the lack of experience does tell and you sense their just repeating what they've been told to say without really knowing why. It also felt a bit too long and would have been better without some scenes which were too similar to others. Not as good a film as 'The Apple' but worth seeing as there are some nice moments and it still manages to have a sense of humour despite the obvious terrible hardship these people have endured. (6/10)

In a devastated Afghanistan post-Taliban, Nogreh is a woman that goes to a school without the knowledge of her conservative father that sees blasphemy everywhere. She dreams on becoming President of Afghanistan, but wears burqa and fears her father; she is interested to know whether there are other women presidents further to the Pakistani prime-minister Benazir Bhutto; and she wants to know their speeches to be elected president. Nogreh wanders with her father and her sister-in-law Leylomah with her baby in a buggy with their old horse. Leylomah is seeking-out her missing husband Akhtar and has problem to feed her baby due to her own starvation. Along their travel for survival, they see their country devastated by war and misery.

"Panj É Asr" is a very sad tour though Afghanistan, a country devastated by the civil war, the successive invasions and war against Russians and Americans and the Taliban regime since the 70's. It is impressive to see only ruins of former cities and palaces, and the poor and illiterate people dying without food or water. The ignorance of the common people and the treatment to the women are also amazing. This movie is a sort of documentary and despite the lack of resources and the flawed screenplay, the director Samira Makhmalbaf has the merit of exposing these wounds to the world. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Às Cinco da Tarde" ("At Five in the Afternoon")

What made me write the comment about this film was the post signed by "ingemli". It is easy bullshitting arrogantly about this film while sitting in the air-conditioned cinema, eating pop corns and feeling sleepy. Samira Makhmalbaf went to Afganistan after the Taliban regime was toppled, and decided not to stay a silent observer of a hard life she faced with. Together with her famous father (Mohsen Makmalbaf wrote over 30 scenarios and directed about 20 films) she developed the script and was determined to film it in Afghanistan. It was difficult to find the actors, especially a native woman who would interpret the main character who shows her face, as the country lacks professional actors. Keeping all this in mind, it all ended pretty well with non-professionals. I am not telling that this film is a masterpiece, but it has its value and deserves respect. This is a tale of a young woman who, despite his father's religious fanaticism and prohibition that she goes to school, insists to get educated to become "the president of the republic". She goes to school without her father's knowledge, putting on the white high heels and uncovering her face. The shoes, actually pretty ugly and unsuitable for walking through the ruins, have strong symbolic meaning of her rebelled femininity. Ms. Makhmalbaf follows her heroine and hers family through the hard times of loosing illusions about the possibility not only for social advancement but simple survival. I knew this strange country only by bad news on TV. This film served as a window on its other, hidden side – the ordinary people's life struggle – and that's its most admiring part.