Wajma

Note: when I saw this film I knew little about it, and I think that added to it's power. So while this review doesn't contain spoilers in the normal sense -- everything revealed here is in the film's first half, and I've kept my comments deliberately vague -- I'd urge you to see it knowing as little as possible. Of course, if you're reading this you may already know the film's basic plot,

With that note, some thoughts if you choose to continue reading.

I found this a devastating look at the darkly surreal realities of life for women in Afghanistan. Indeed, the English title 'An Afghan Love Story' is as bleakly sardonic a name for a story as I can remember.

What's so powerful about the film is the way that title has a very different meaning for the first chunk of the movie, when the film really does play as a sweet story of young love, if in a repressive world.

But then the film starts to examine what happens when things go awry in a relationship in a super-patriarchal society where women are made scapegoats and bear all the weight of social disaster. Perhaps because I knew nothing about the film when I saw it, its endlessly deeper turn into blackness caught me off guard and took my breath away. But I'm willing to bet that the strong performances and tragic raw reality of the film would be pretty overwhelming regardless.

An important and powerful social document that screams out for change.

So I'm scrolling through my Amazon Prime and run across this movie... I figured I can try to practice my Arabic so I start to watch it not really know what it was about.... crazy movie!!! Definitely a must see- and spot on for what it's really like for most women in that situation- shocked and enjoyed- WELL DONE!

1. Yes dog fights & fatalities are a part of the culture, and even in the US. Only by showing it can we understand and then act. 2. The physical beatings of the daughter (and other women in the family) by her father is the norm. Says the father, "I'll burn her, I'll put a knife to her throat. She shamed our family. You can mourn your own death. Bitch! May God curse you." A view found in many conservative sectors of the world's major religions. 3. Afghan female suicide rates amongst the highest in the world; from forced marriages; domestic violence; lack of mental health treatment. Estimates of the United Nations Population Fund, 87% of Afghan women have been victims of at least one form of physical, sexual or psychological violence, and 62% have experienced multiple forms of abuse. 4. So what is to be done? Education, and the US w/its power not abandoning females who struggle against abuse & are treated as less than livestock. Unfortunately, Trump, in his "we are not the policemen of the world" approach is abandoning women in many parts of the world. Not only Afghan women but as another example the Kurds who are the only ethnic group in the Turkish, Syrian, Iranian, Saudi regions that gives full democratic equality to women.

A complicated story, a love story, and set in Afghanistan's patriarchal society, making love between the two characters harder and harder. This film really shows the treatment of women during this time and how difficult it is for them to live and love. The scenes were complimentary of the film, but I think they could have used a better quality camera/lens.

Very good!

'Wajma', a.k.a. 'An Afghan Love Story', is a well done flick. Barmak Akram & Co. Do a great job at making everything feel real, particularly one scene with Wajma Bahar and Haji Gul Aser - both of whom impress with their performances, especially the former.

Fully merits a viewing.