Notizie

With the world caught in a time and place allowing it to quickly judge so much on so little, tiny human stories like Black Kite prove to be their most potent. Ask Americans about the Taliban and some will probably say the term is synonymous with Isis, their lazy round-up of terrorist labels from the Middle East ultimately falling under the unfortunate umbrella of Islam at-large. It’s a real shame because this means that too many of us don’t know anything of the beautiful cultures countries like Iran, Iraq, or Afghanistan (where the Taliban originates) possessed and continue to possess today. They only see death, beheadings, and buzz terms like Sharia law because the media and government seek to feed us easy fear rather than educate sprawling complexities.

Like the title says, writer/director Tarique Qayumi’s latest is about kites — but not as you know them. While toys for children,...

Wajma: An Afghan Love Story, Afghanistan's Submission for the Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. U.S. : Film Movement. International Sales Agent: Doc & Film International

Geographically the Central Asian nation of Afghanistan is partitioned between luscious valleys, snowy mountains and grand desert landscapes. Similarly diverse are the ethnic groups that make up its society, a society with a well-known warring past. Today, these animosities and rivalries are still present, but the real issue that concerns the inhabitants of the country is the way in which the world keeps moving forward in a rapid race towards modernity while they, due to the cultural and economical isolation during the Taliban’s years, exist in an outdated system. The never-ending battle between tradition and change is clearly more vivid now, and multi-talented Barmak Akram (writer, director, producer, cinematographer, and editor of the film) appears to be saying so in his naturalistic and surprisingly revelatory film Wajma: An Afghan Love Story that begins as a quirky romantic comedy but then quickly transforms into a high-stakes drama.

Advising the viewer that the events depicted are based upon several true stories, which is not hard to believe, the film first showcases a side of modern Afghanistan rarely seen on screen. Middle class suburbs, cafés filled with people using their computers, and wedding parties that could easily be compared to those taking place miles away in a Western country. Mustafa (Mustafa Abdulsatar), dressed with the latest fashions from abroad nothing short of a hipster, is a waiter at one of these upscale restaurants in the heart of Kabul. He has just returned from Iran where he lived during the war and has his eyes set on attractive Wajma (Wajma Bahar), the daughter of a family acquaintance. On her own merit, Wajma is also a reflection of the surging cultural transformation that has occurred after the American military intervention. Unfathomable for a woman just over a decade ago, she is allowed to pursue a career and has just been accepted into the law program at the national university.

As it would happen in any given indie feature about love made in the U.S, their relationship begins with flirtatious banter and is followed by the assiduous courtship from Mustafa who even plays the guitar for her when she sneaks into his apartment hiding from the nosy neighbors. Still, as the title cleverly states, this is a love story governed by a distinctive set of rules that are particular to the Afghan way of living. What started as a playful and tender affair becomes a nightmarish ordeal for the couple after they commit the ultimate offense -- that is, premarital sex. Pregnant and dishonored, Wajma knows her life has no purpose under the established parameters of conduct unless Mustafa marries her to conceal their crime, a proposal that he refuses doubting his evident fatherhood and her virginity before him.

What ensues is a heavy cross to bear for Wajma, since abortion is seen as an abhorrently illegal act in her country, and her father (Haji Gul Aser), who works finding and dismantling mines, would much rather see her dead than living with the stigma her mistake has imposed on the family. Told with a superbly unpretentious and documentary-like style Akram’s film is a journey through the current state of this complicated society. Ironically, one contemporary element that is prominent in the story is the use of cell phones, and they are utilized as tools to uphold the intricate religious conventions by which individuals, and specifically women, must abide.

Led by Wajma Bahar’s disarming performance as a girl who faces an agonizing fate after naively falling for a man who did not calculate the consequences that their relationship could have in her life, and within the context of the world they live in, Wajma: An Afghan Love Story is a compelling small gem. Blending the opposing sides of what it means to be a woman enjoying newly found freedom in present-day Afghanistan and the power of the irrevocable mandates that still prevail as supreme law, director Barmak Akram has delivered an innovative vision of the evolving nature which his country tries to adapt to the future at the same time that it remains grounded on its past, for better or worse.

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