Kandahar

The film “Kandahar” in the week of Iranian movie in United Nations of Geneva

Interview with its Director Moshen MAKHMALBAF

UNS: What is the main idea of the film Kandahar?
M. Makhmalbaf: I wanted to show the conditions in which the people of Afghanistan live. This is the country that now everybody talks about. It took the events of recent months to make the international community aware of Afghanistan. And in a very negative sense, as the country of terrorism, which is not at all justified. Now, that the war has started, everybody talks about Afghanistan. It is a shame that it took these events to make people talk about Afghanistan. It was a forgotten country. I want to draw attention to the problems there. A tragic situation has existed in this country for at least 20 years. Nobody paid much attention to a country where every five minutes one person dies from hunger. The completion of the film coincided with the demolition of the Buddha statue. At that time the newspapers and TV programmes were filled with grief and indignation over this demolition. But nobody, except the UN High Commissioner Ogata, expressed grief over the pending death of one million Afghans as a result of severe famine. Nobody spoke of the reasons for this mortality. Are statues more cherished than humans in the modern-day world? I became determined to show the real situation, of how people live there, and I knew that I could do it better that other journalists who normally were not allowed to visit all areas in the country or to take photos.

Did you manage to get inside Afghanistan and film there? Did you get special authorisation? 
I got into the country surreptitiously. It was a long planned trip, but I could not realise it earlier. This is my second film about Afghanistan. The first one, The Cyclist I made in 1988. After that I understood that I should do something for this country. This is the country without a face. I thought I should try to help the country find its face by showing the reality. Several years ago a journalist of Afghan origin, who lived in Canada, addressed me with the request to go with her to Kandahar and to film her journey. She wanted to save her sister from whom she was receiving desperate letters. She managed to cross the border, but I was not able to do so for several more years. During all this time I was preparing documents, collecting statistics and preparing my trip. Only 15 months ago I managed to get there and film what I saw.

In fact, you are filming the journey to Kandahar. Is it more a documentary than a movie? 
It is a mixture of both. There are several scenes which I prepared, there are several scenes that I took from real life. Most of the people are not actors, they are real persons whom I met on the way to Kandahar.

You said that Afghanistan is a country without face. What does this mean? 
First, there is no nation called Afghan, only ethnic groups. But more important, women (at least 10 million) do not have identity cards. Talibans counted only the male population, and family size is counted only according to the number of boys. Women live in humiliating conditions, they cannot read, cannot write, they must hide their faces behind burquas.

But in your film even burquas have faces, is this correct? 
Yes, in my film these are not faceless burquas. The coloured burquas were intended to express the thought that behind each burqua is the face of a woman, Her beauty is expressed by the colours of the burquas. It is essential to express this beauty despite hunger and death all around. Right now I have finished a new documentary (46 min) film “Afghan Alphabet” where I try to touch more deeply the problem of women under the burquas, i.e. what has been happening in the heads of women during these 20 years.

Historically Iran and Afghanistan were linked together for centuries. How do you see the difference now? What is your perception of the events there? 
Once in the past Iran and Afghanistan were a single powerful kingdom. 250 years ago Afghanistan separated from Iran, both countries then developed in their own ways. We have a long border with Afghanistan and many refugees from there. We know their problems. The situation of the last 20 years has greatly added to the disparity. In Iran we have problems, but problems of modern society. When I was in Afghanistan I felt I was in a different millennium. It is not only hunger, disease, lack of human rights, political or economic crisis. It is also a cultural crisis.

What can be done right now for the people of Afghanistan? What are your priorities? 
Eradication of illiteracy. I could only dream that for each bomb thrown they would instead throw a book, instead of mines growing in the fields it should be wheat. But, even if each western country could chose one city and pay for the education of the population of this city for one year, the people will begin to be able to read and write. This is already the first concrete step – education. I am convinced that without education it will not be possible to solve the cultural, economic, social and political problems. The country is 85 percent illiterate now, the radio broadcasts two hours per day, and until recently only Taliban ideology; no newspapers. You cannot imagine this in Europe. You cannot imagine that this is happening in a country rich in culture.

One scene in the film is particularly impressive and much spoken about – artificial legs flying down in parachutes and the flock of one-legged men on crutches hobbling frantically across the desert in the race to win this leg. What was your message there? 
It was a message to show what kind of dream is required in a country that is on the brink of a nightmare. The people who lost legs in explosions dream about what? They dream to have these legs. Your children dream about toys, and the toys come to them from the sky in their dreams. Children in Afghanistan are afraid of toys, they do not touch toys because they know that toys are mines. They are brought up with Kalashnikovs in their hands, but not toys. The dream in this country is about food, or peace, or bread. This idea of the shocking contrast between dreams and reality I tried to pass through this scene.

Is your vision of Western society critical? The American “black doctor” in your film –is he a negative or positive personage? Why do you use this image? 
My vision of the Western society is not critical. I think that for some decades we have had different values. I am happy that now I am able to express the values and the soul of our people through my movies. The image of the doctor is not negative. It just shows what was going in the minds of western people who have come to Afghanistan during previous wars. Some of them stayed. There were reasons for that. Years ago, this doctor came as a soldier to fight, then stayed to heal. I was surprised to see so many foreigners there on both sides – the Afghan side, the Taliban side. I just wanted to show the precise picture, to raise certain moral issues.

Your film got “Grand prize” from the Society of Churches of the World in Cannes 2001 and “Federico Fellini Honour” from UNESCO in Paris. What other prizes did you film receive?
Ecumenical Jury prize Cannes International Film Festival, France 2001; Ecumenical Jury Prize Description Cannes International Film Festival, France 2001, the “Public Prize” from the Festival des Cinemas du Sud, 2001; the «Best Actress Award » from Montreal Nouveau Cinema Nouveau Media Film Festival; UNESCO “Honorary Diploma” for Kandahar Actress, 2001.

What was your feeling about getting such world-wide recognition?
Of course, it is a tremendous success for me as producer. Although even in Cannes, last summer, the journalists asked me: why did you make this film, the subject is not important at all. I was full of pride for the work done, and had a feeling of helplessness at the same time. When I was in Afghanistan, I saw a little 12-year old Afghan girl, the same age as my own daughter, Hanna, throbbing of hunger in my arms. Oh God! Why have I become so powerless, like Afghanistan? I remembered the poem of the Afghan poet who came to Iran and was expelled for not having found the truth. I had the same bitter feeling all that time:

“I came on foot, I’ll leave on foot
The same stranger who had no piggy bank, will leave. 
And the child who had no dolls, will leave. 
The spell on my exile will be broken tonight. 
And the table that had been empty, will be folded. 
In suffering, I wandered around the horizons. 
It is me, whom everyone has seen wandering. 
What I do not have, I’ll lay and leave. 
I came on foot, I’ll leave on foot.”

Do you still have this bitter feeling? 
Now everybody discusses Afghanistan. Now my film is the centre of attention. Do the problems raised touch the feelings? Or should the tragic events of September 11 have happened to make people concerned? I wish I could give a definite answer. I wish this bitter feeling would leave me. I am visiting many countries now. I can see everywhere everybody is concerned. Recently, I was in Luxembourg. Today I am here, in the UNOG. I came to show my film so that everyone could see. I came to tell so that everyone could hear. I do hope that all together we can change Afghan’s destiny. I do hope.

                                                    Interview prepared by Evelina Rioukhina.