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Another Afghan gem: The Land of the Enlightened

Posted by diogenes on 2024-April-17 13:03:04, Wednesday
In reply to 'When Pomegranates Howl' posted by andrew_bl on 2024-April-17 09:41:28, Wednesday

It looks interesting, but I can't seem to find a copy anywhere and there's no DVD/BD, unless someone can discover otherwise.

Another film from Afghanistan, which is available, is The Land of the Enlightened (2016) (directed by Pieter-Jan De Pue), which is mostly documentary footage. But at the end of the film, in order to give the whole thing a unity, and emphasise an underlying theme, the director got the group of youths he had been filming to act out a plotline whereby they rather romantically ride their horses to Kabul as the Americans retreat, in the hope of taking over an ancient palace and recreating the splendours of the Khans of old.

This group of youths are all orphans and they survive (and indeed somewhat flourish) by raiding caravans carrying opium and selling it on. It's all quite good-natured banditry. Afghan boys have the most extraordinary look, very striking and beautiful. The leader of the youths in this film (Gholam Nasir) is very handsome, and we see him paying visits to the girl who is, it seems, already destined to be his future wife. The girl looks about 6! It's not clear how soon she is supposed to marry him. It would have westerners screaming child abuse, but then Afghanistan is not the West (thank Allah).

The Afghan landscape is breathtaking. I wonder, do the inhabitants realise how sublime their landscape is? Or do they not see it, because it's the only thing they've known?

There was a very brief Guardian review of The Land of the Enlightened which praised the artistry of the film, and noted that "This is also possibly the only film in which you can witness a tube of lapis lazuli being rammed up a donkey’s arse." And if that doesn't sell the movie, I don't know what will!

Official trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WSAMbFNshU

diogenes

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