Afghanistan Unveiled

There have been these really odd previews playing lately that none of my friends could explain. I recently got invited to a movie, and finally figured out the preview. It was advertising the Istanbul International Film Festival, which I found myself at on Friday afternoon. Over the last few years, I've really enjoyed international films, and this one was about Afghanistan--a place I'm always interested in learning about, so I was pretty excited.

It was a documentary, the first film by Afghan women about Afghan women. These journalist students had to be trained in how to film, so they decided to a documentary on the lives of Afghan women during and after the reign of the Taliban. The students had never left Kabul before the filming. During the film, they traveled around the country and interviewed different women from different people groups. In my uneducated (in filming) experience, it was really good! It showed different types of women, their viewpoints on the Taliban, the hardships of their lives, the way they live, etc. It was somewhat balanced by showing some men, and giving their views of women in that society. It also showed that, because the Taliban were gone, women such as these journalists could start trying to live a new and better life, and the joy they were receiving because of it. The film, with the exception of one woman, was pretty pro- not American, but pro-what the Americans did for Afghanistan.

Afterwards, the director of the film festival explained that we had the privilege of one of the having the cinematographers there, and she would dialogue with the audience. I was really excited to hear from this girl. (She's only 26 now). Before she started, she made a comment that while she appreciated the one woman in the film who spoke against the US involvement in Afghanistan, she agreed with all the other women, in that the involvement opened many doors for democracy and freedom in her country. Oh, I should explain something. The neighborhood where I live, and with that main street the Istaklal, is like Greenwich Village or Berkeley or something like that. Where all the college kids, artsy fartsy post-modern thinkers hang out. The demonstrations are always on the Istaklal, etc. So therefore, it's a very anti-American area.

Well, the first person to stand up and ask a question was a guy. For some reason, that bugged me. It was like, he didn't get all the 'female lib' part of the entire afternoon. He goes on and on in Turkish, and finally he's done and sits down. The translator says his whole commentary in English, and I began to gawk. He said that he felt the film was lacking in many areas. That it portrayed the Taliban in a negative light without telling all the facts about the other governments (ie, the US) that had done the people just as poorly, raping and killing their women. (I leaned to my friend and asked, "Is that what they think here? That our gov goes in raping and killing?" She said, "I guess so"). He finally finished his commentary by asking, "How do you respond to the opinion that your film is quite lacking?"

Ooh--I was hot! I wanted to stand up and say, "You're lacking in manners!" Here's this young girl, who three years ago, had never left Kabul, and now she's sitting in Istanbul dialoguing with people about her dream having come true because her country was finally alleviated from war. She commented on the fact that she had only known war in her country her entire life until recently. I wanted to ask that guy, "What do you know? You're male, first of all--there is no way you can relate to being a woman under the Taliban. To the fear those women expressed of leaving their houses because what waited outside was rape, having their breasts cut off, and then to be murdered." This guy lives in Turkey! In Istanbul! What does he know? Oh man, I just couldn't believe how rude he was!

So the next person stands up and gives their commentary (I learned the Turkish cannot ask short questions). Again, it belittled the film and was rude. The third person said, "Congratulations and thank you first of all. But..." then launched into a harsh question. A friend in the states later asked me why I didn't stand up and speak, and I said, "well...first of all, what do I know of the film world? I had no valid voice about that. And with so much anti-American sentiment in the room, the last thing I wanted to do was stand up and advertise that I am an American and how uninformed I am." I finally left, because I was getting so upset.

I've been experiencing a little bit of culture shock with the Turkish people this week.

Anyway--I thought the film was great. I got online and looked up a little bit about it, realizing that Istanbul is probably the last of the International Film Festivals to pick it up. But if you can find it in your local Blockbuster's International section, it's worth viewing. It made me want to go to Afghanistan and ride a horse.

Click here to see a website about Afghanistan Unveiled.