Return to Kandahar

Perhaps understandably, some IMDb reviewers have this film confused with 2001's Kandahar. In a remarkable tribute to post-modern philosophy, Kandahar was the fictional representation of the true story told in Return to Kandahar. To add a further layer of Derrida-esqe delight, the lead actress in Kandahar is also the lead personality in THIS film. It's all a little complicated. At any rate, of the two films, I'll take the fictional one, bad acting and all. Like many first person docs, Return to Kandahar suffers from navel-gazing disease. Though it's got some fascinating stuff in it, it's a bit hard to get worked up about the fate of one middle-class Afghani when the entire nation has gone to hell in a handbasket, recovered a bit, and now seems headed back on the road to the frying pan. An interesting but inessential (and very personal) film that works best when the narrator turns off her microphone.

I think you got the movies mixed up - "Return to Kandahar" is the doc by Pazira herself. "Kandahar" is the movie starring Pazira and is a fictionalized version of her story.

In Return to Kandahar, we follow her on her search in the city and get to see what life is like there, especially for women, as the men try to "protect" the women from the cameras.

Kandahar is a bit dry and wanting - perhaps it's just the landscape. But there are some wonderful moments to it. It may be terrible to some, but it came out at an opportune time when everyone in the world wanted to know more about Afghanistan.