Le cahier

I really pushed myself in order to follow the movie up to the end. I lived in Afghanistan for 2 years as journalist. I spent in Bamian my vacations because it is so safe place to walk around. And I know very well places where the shooting has been done as well Hazaras. Problem is, that the subject of this film is so inappropriate because of nature of Hazaras - ethnic group who live in Bamian region. For a start - Hazaras are most depressed minority group in Afghanistan. Over history there have been a lot of massacres of Hazaras, and last one was 2001-2002 by Taliban. So it is most shocking to look at the feature film where little Hazara boys pretend to be Talibs - it is the same like to make a movie of Jude boys pretending to be Nazis… Secondly, Hazaras are most tolerant group inside Afghanistan (only Nuristanis are more tolerant, but they live in borderlands of Pakistan). There is no problem for women to walk around without burka (they like very colourful scarves). If you travel around you can see a lot of very simple schooling around – just school desks outside, even no cover or tent. There is no problem to study together – boys and girls – under 10. I have seen even 12-years old together in one classroom in Bamian. It could be very nice documentary of schools at Bamian. Nature is superb and people are just great. I was sad that young Iranian lady has not done her homework before shooting.

This is an unusual film, but not a film that can be considered a major work of cinema. The Iranian film is shot on Afghan locations very close to the spot where the fundamentalist Muslim Taliban destroyed the centuries-old rock hewn gigantic statue of Buddha. Had it existed today, it could have been a modern wonder of the world. Hence the title--"Buddha collapsed from shame". The film location probably has not a single Buddhist--at least officially. It is habited by gentle, peace loving Muslims terrorized by fundamentalist Muslims. Women are forced to wear burkhas--to cover their hair. If the women use lipstick, they are brutally punished, even stoned to death, after being given water to drink before they die! Girls are not allowed to attend school, while boys are. The film begins with the documentary footage of the destruction of the Buddha statue.

The film is an interesting film for several reasons. It is directed by a 19-year-old girl--daughter of a famous Iranian director. Like Sofia Coppola, her family must have encouraged her at every step.

The movie is equally interesting because a Muslim director is criticizing the Taliban.

The most valuable part of the film is that the criticism is indirect as perceived from a child's perspective. The entire story is told by a lovely, persistent, young girl child who yearns to learn to read and attend school, and makes intelligent use of her mother's lipstick and four eggs taken from her home to attain her aim in life. Her mother is away, working. (I guess here shades of director Hana Makhmalbaf's personal aspirations are mirrored, though she led a much better life than the Afghan girl.) The film is a wonderful example of use of kids in world cinema. What credible performances!

Yet there are problems with the film. Many sequences seem to remind you of "Lord of the Flies". There is a sequence where the girl child ties a baby with a rope and leaves for school--but this scene is never followed up. There is another scene where the girl rings the school bell, and no one in the school seems to notice her action. Humour takes its toll on credibility. Yet Hana needs to be commended for her brave and intelligent work.

The film opened the 12th International Film Festival Of Kerala, in India, today

To tell a story without telling the audience what they should and shouldn't feel is courageous in any age; in this age of zealotry and cynicism, and especially in the film makers' own region, it is almost messianic...siddhartic even.

And of course, what better way to cut through the bu11shit and get to the facts than to lay them out from a child's perspective? The innocent child who still has a free will shows us how the world might be if conditions were better; the innocent children who have been indoctrinated, thereby mirroring the adult world, show us how the sorry world of today really is.

Children represent the truth, but not for long: the battle for their souls is the battle for the future.

I stumbled upon this film on TV while feeling rather down. At first I thought it was a documentary and was interested by it, after 5 minutes I was hooked.

As the story unfolded I soon realised that it was a film that captures a realism rarely seen on screen, nothing in this film seems contrived if anything it is ad hoc and natural.

I couldn't believe how much I instantly warmed to the characters especially the central character.

Without giving anything away this feature moved me, disturbed me, humbled me and left me in awe.

You need to see this film for yourself, any description I could give would be a disservice to it.

I have watched this movie for so many time but still its fresh, i really want to know about the actors in the movie they have done an extraordinary job at that age being judged by their village far away from the modern world out of all facilities , this is a true noble work.