The Land of the Enlightened

This film is amazing. From the first minute, I was gripped by the incredibly desolate Afghan landscape, by the otherworldliness of the scenes, which are beautiful and bizarre at the same time, and by the way Afghanistan is shown: torn apart by war and violence.

Belgian director Pieter-Jan De Pue has made this film in a semi-documentary style. He documents the lives of a gang of teenage boys, living in a yurt high in the Pamir mountains. They make a living by robbing or supporting passing camel caravans, whichever pays best.

When the film progresses, you realize that most of it must be fictional, but that doesn't really matter. It's the visual way De Pue tells the story of this country that counts. He contrasts the scenes of the boys with footage of American soldiers shooting and bombing the nearby villages. These scenes are clearly not fictional, they are the result of De Pues short assignment as an embedded photographer.

The real challenge must have been to edit all the material, in order to make a coherent movie. The director uses old tales, told by a voice-over, to create a fairytale-like atmosphere. But the reality contrasts in a spectacular way with these old tales. One very telling scene shows an American officer, holding a passionate speech for a group of local men, with the help of an interpreter. We have made your area safer, he tells them, and it will remain safe if you help us. Are you willing to do that, yes or no? All he gets for an answer is complete silence.

De Pue has put his heart and soul into this film, and has risked his life making it. But it has paid off. This is a film that leaves you gaping in amazement, and in admiration for the effort he has put into it.

In the documentary In The Land of the Enlightened two worlds collide visually, technically and spiritually. This is a hybrid documentary, meaning some shots were staged while others focus on the environment of Afghanistan and its people through an observational style. The cast, if you may call it that, are all real people. Some of the action scenes are rehearsed and others are presented as they happen. The blur between fiction and non-fiction is intentional, as Belgium Director and Photographer Pieter-Jan De Pue takes on a non-traditional view of how to craft a true story, with imagines elements that respond to a lived experience of Afghanistan, rather than real-life depictions. Shot over seven years, the documentary focuses on the lives of a group of children who are also fighters. Their lives are all about survival and war in the mountains of Afghanistan. Read more here: https://indieethos.com/2016/09/02/in-the-land-of-the- enlightened/

This film is very effective in conveying the harsh beauty of Afghanistan, using sweeping or time-lapsed shots of the barren landscape and mountain ranges. It also shows the people of these remote regions and some of their daily activities, and it paints a powerful picture of a country scarred by war.

The narrative, if you would call it that, is about a few groups of children who live as bands of robbers and miners. Their stories are obviously fictional and fantastic. Interspersed with scenes with the children is footage of US and Afghan soldiers, some of it actual combat footage. The scenes with military personnel are undoubtedly not staged, but cut in a way that they loosely fit the film. A few scenes are played by actors portraying soldiers.

Initially, I was mesmerized by the images of the landscape and people. But as the movie dragged on, there was very little I could relate to story-wise. It all seemed very random to me, a collection of scenes with no real direction or cohesion. Sure, one of the children has a dream he is pursuing, but to me that was not enough to carry the film.

I should think that the real stories of the people in the film are probably much more interesting and worth telling. The kids looked like they had fun acting though.

Apparently this took seven years to make. Since the actors did not age at all during the story, I would say six years worth of collected footage was combined with a weak narrative shot in a few months, to warrant a theatrical release. Interesting but it lacked substance.

This is an Amazing documentary every American should watch in order to understand what's going on in Afghan war; under what conditions the US soldiers are fighting; how the child soldiers/gangs are operating during this ongoing war; opium traffic etc. Sometimes it goes slow but if you are patient you will learn a lot.

DO NOT MISS THIS!!!

This gem is the best film of all time for me. I saw it in Mumbai film festival, 3 years ago and I have been recommending it to people ever since. It's beautiful, humane and has all the elements that make cinema the most effective art to pierce one's soul.