I really enjoyed this simple tale of an Afghan girl who determines to get an education. Leaving her home, a room cut into the side of a mountain, she sets out to follow the neighbor boy to his school. Impediments await—she has no money for pen or notebook, and the boys’ school will not teach her. Significantly, there’s a Lord of the Flies style interlude as local boys cast themselves as Taliban in training. The title and the opening/closing image of a giant statue of Buddha being destroyed by the Taliban suggest a rather heavy-handed film, but it’s best viewed as a story of an unbelievably (take that word literally or not) determined girl, whatever allegorical purpose may have been intended by its 19-year-old director, Iranian Hana Makhmalbaf, or the screenwriter, who is her mother. Makhmalbaf coaxes wonderful performances from the children, including her five-year-old leading lady. The young boys who harass her can be seen as Taliban-in-training, but the ending of the movie suggests that maybe they were just playing the Afghan version of cowboys-and-Indians.
IMDB link
viewed 4/11/08; reviewed 4/27/08; screened at Philadelphia Film Festival
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