Safar e Ghandehar or the English translation "Kandahar" is an Afghani film expressing the long and difficult journey of an Arab American woman seeking her sister in through the Middle Eastern deserts on her way to Kandahar, the second largest city of Afghanistan. This film is regarded with praise as it holds awards, however, comparing Kandahar to American films, it stands as absolutely nothing special in the opinions of Americans, and in the opinion of my own. Kandahar is slow, repetitive, and holds no sentimental meaning. With the tension that is held between the United States and the Middle East, this film does not help the feud.Usually in stories, not just films, but in literature period, you have 7 structures to a good plot. There is the Leading character, an inciting incident that throws the main character out of balance, a objective for the character, obstacles in the characters way, a crisis which is the toughest obstacle for the character, a climax were the story is at its highest point, and a resolution where the action falls and the story is left at an end or at interpretation. All of these elements are essential for telling a story, now let's look at Kandahar. We are introduced to the leading female character as we learn she is thrown off balance by her sister who needs help, her objective which is to find and save her sister, obstacles where she has to travel though a dangerous dessert flooding with thieves. This is where the film ends, that is all this movie has to offer. Did she find her sister? We don't know many Arab films have open endings because they believe that life is a journey and should always be left open. In my opinion that is absurd and stories of that genre are rubbish. As far as I know every journey I've ever been through has an end, but life can still continue even if a journey such as High School or a show production ends. I cannot decipher why these filmmakers would do this. I just wasted and hour of a half of my life that i will never get back in watching half of a movie. That is like watching Star Wars and the movie is turned off before the X-wings enter the Death Star trench. That is like ending Citizen Kane without showing the audience the Rosebud sled. The film get's the audience into these characters and awaits some kind of crisis that would lead to the climax and resolution, but instead we are left with an unfinished film. Unless if there is a Kandahar 2 (god forbid), this film serves no purpose. The leading characters sister wanted to commit suicide in the film, I don't blame her, I wan contemplating killing myself half way through this film too.I cannot help but express my feeling towards this atrocious film, let alone writing an essay about it. America has made some pretty bad films, but few of them compare the animosity of this example of an Arab film. I'd rather watch Ed Wood films without a companion to tell jokes too. I'd rather watch an edited copy of the Star Wars prequels that only show the scenes with Hayden Christiansen. I'd rather watch the extended directors cut of Dune. I'd rather watch the dance sequence in Spider-man 3 over and over again . If my life were a movie, I'd call up Doctor Emit Brown and borrow his DeLorean so I can drive 88 miles per hour, go back in time, and prevent this film from ever being made. No one on this earth, that includes criminals and terrorists deserve the torture of watching Kandahar, and anyone who shows this film is the meanest and most sadistic individual on the face of this green earth. Watching this film in class made me happier that I have changed my major to theater so I can never run any risk of being forced to watch such a terrible movie ever again.

The comment on the Indian music is off base - Indian music and DVDs are common in Afghanistan as the local entertainment industry is still recovering from the Taliban. Bollywood film DVDs are sold in Kabul. Pictures and posters of Indian actresses are popular here. It isn't unusual to hear recorded Sitar music here in Kabul.Afghan and Indian music was distributed secretly at great risk during the Taliban reign. There is just not enough Afghan material yet and Afghans love music, even if they don't understand Urdu.There is a scene in the movie where an instrument is seized by the Taliban before the wedding.So the soundtrack was completely appropriate for me.Hopefully we will see a feature film made inside Afghanistan someday. Its a beautiful and fascinating place and holds fascinating stories.

This is an extremely beautiful film which inhabits a visual and emotional territory somewhere between Werner Herzog and Pasolini.As others have stated, the actors are non-professionals and the plot is not the stuff of Hollywood melodrama. However the images and sounds are haunting and profound. Mahkmalbaf is truly a poet of the cinema.The film does not attempt to make a political analysis of the situation of Afghanistan in 2001, but operates on a more humanistic and emotional level, showing the human consequences, the poverty both material and spiritual of life under the Taliban and the indifference of the outside world.The "doctor" character, far from being implausible, is played by a real person with a very similar history. He is also a stand-in within the film for Makhmalbaf himself, who started as an Islamic fundamentalist revolutionary but has moved towards a more open-minded humanism.The film itself describes a circle, the first scene is also the last, the sun shining through a burqa onto a woman's face. Between are unforgettable images, and a transit across a surreal and nightmarish landscape. Surrender yourself and you will really feel you have been on a journey.The UK DVD also includes "The Afghan Alphabet" a similarly fictionalised documentary on the struggle to bring education to the three million or so Afghan refugees in Iran.

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.