Please don't spend money on this.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

"Kandahar (Safar e Ghandehar)" is the "Apocalypse Now" of the Afghan Wars-- an artist's vision that is strikingly visual, combined with enough facts to confuse us between reality and fiction, though "Kandahar" strays even more into pseudo-documentary territory into the literal Heart of Darkness. Far less didactic than another recent Iranian film that grimly looked at women's lives under fanatic Islam, "The Circle," "Kandahar" was inspired by a Canadian-Afghani journalist's real quest and somewhat improvised around the people she and the director met on the Afghan-Iranian border while shooting the film, and utilized as amateur actors (including one now identified as a Khomeini-directed assassin).The images are simply stunning and unforgettable (such that the noisy popcorn eaters stopped crunching bags mid-handful)-- prosthetic limbs parachuted into desert Red Cross stations chased by amputees on crutches, posed family portraits with the plural wives covered in burkhas, a mullah martinet leading a crowded class of a madrassas in rote memorization of both the Koran and the use of weapons, and women covered in multi-colored burkhas sweeping over the desert to a frightening check-point.But all are shown as complex, surprising characters -- the amputees are victims of land mines set up by many different sources over the decades or maybe, in a region filled with crafty con men and survival thieves, are victims of rough justice; the mullah is feeding the starving boys; and the husband defends the use of the burkha as a traditional point of honor. Of course even little touches mean more now -- we understand the look of fearful unease as one man mutters that he can't go to Kandahar because he's been in the prison there. It's not just the women who lead lives of quiet desperation in war-torn Afghanistan.There's no conventional ending, only our imaginations, but then who knows wither Afghanistan? (originally written 12/31/2001)

You can read all the books and newspaper articles you want, nothing can give you a feeling for life in a repressive theocracy like a well-made film, and Kandahar is that film. Nafas, a woman who fled Afghanistan before the takeover of the Taliban receives a disturbing letter from her sister who was unable to flee with the rest of her family. The sister is so depressed that she has decided to kill herself on the occasion of an upcoming solar eclipse. Nafas decides she must go to Kandahar to find her sister and somehow get her out before it is too late. After flying to Iran, she crosses the border by land into Afghanistan and is immediately faced with the rigors of life under the Taliban. Her annoyance at having to purchase and wear a burka at all times fortells the trying experience she is about to have. Going from one misadventure to another, it is a descent into an absurd hell. The story is compelling, the photography starkly beautiful, and the acting so real that one has the impression of watching a documentary. I would say it is "Survivor" meets the Taliban but Survivor is ultimately about selfishness whereas the protagonist is a paragon of devotion to her sister. The film is based on a true story (except it involved two friends rather than sisters) and was filmed in Iran near the Afghan border before the events of 9/11. I would so much like to see a sequel showing further changes in Afghan society after the overthrow of the Taliban and several years of rebuilding under the Western-backed Karzai government.

I was moved by the beauty brought to a situation of suffering and tragedy. As our protagonist struggles to find her sister, the horrors of postwar Afghanistan are revealed through simple encounters with a variety of people with struggles of their own. The pacing, which may seem tedious to folks used to fast action, allows a lyrical visual beauty to arise where another filmmaker may have shown chaos. In turn, this lyrical beauty creates a stillness where compassion begins and grows. What was distant & abstract becomes close & personal. We're shown a perspective on war that is at once starkly simple and deeply caring. I also enjoyed the taste of Persian culture. The legacy of Hafiz, Rumi & other great Persian poets flavors the vivid poetics of Makhmalbaf's cinematography, dialog, and plot structure. Quite a taut alternative to our American viewpoint.

It is hard to say anything negative about such a well-intentioned and well-produced film, but I found Kandahar an immense disappointment. The film deals seriously with a serious subject, and one which is still relevant (since life for women since the fall of the Taliban hasn't improved as much as we'd like to think). It is also beautifully shot, and has a captivating soundtrack made up from Afghan music. There are also some interesting characters, such as the American activist who went to Afghanistan to fight the Russians and stayed to use his para-medical skills to help the Afghan people. The one ingredient missing is a plot. There is a plot-device: the heroine is going to Kandahar to find her sister (who has written to say that she will commit suicide). However, this is merely a vehicle for a travelogue. As a documentary showing life under the Taliban, Kandahar is excellent, but as a film, it is weak.