Kandahar (2001)

Original title

Safar e Ghandehar

Directed by

Mohsen Makhmalbaf

Genre

drama film

Country

Iran, France

Runtime

1h 25m

Rated

15+

Rating

6.3 of 10 from 89 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A woman living in Canada returns to Afghanistan under Taliban rule to stop her sister from committing suicide. She travels across a harsh landscape and encounters people who are struggling under the regime.

somberbleakurgentcontemplativevisually starkdesperategrounded

What happens

Kandahar (Dari: قندهار, "Qandahar") is a 2001 Iranian film directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf, set in Afghanistan during the rule of the Taliban. Its original Afghan title is Safar-e Ghandehar (سفر قندهار), which means "Journey to Kandahar", and it is alternatively known as The Sun Behind the Moon. The film is based on a partly true, partly fictionalized story of Nafas, a successful Afghan-Canadian woman played by Nelofer Pazira. The film recounts the attempts of Nafas to return to Afghanistan after receiving a letter from her sister, who was left behind when the family escaped from the country years earlier after the rise of the Taliban. Nafas makes this desperate mission in an effort to rescue her sister, who has written that, because of discriminatory laws passed by the regime, she plans to commit suicide on the last solar eclipse of the millennium. Kandahar was filmed mostly in Iran, including at the Niatak refugee camp close to the Afghan border. Some filming took place secretly in Afghanistan. Most people, including Nelofer Pazira, played themselves. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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