Afghan Stories

Rating:
Summary: Illuminating
Review: This documentary film seeks to open up a side to Afghanistan previously unseen by Western viewers. It's a personal film, the story of the director and an Afghan friend traveling around the country, seeing if they could unearth some sign of life in places destroyed by over twenty years of war. That alone was a revelation. Before seeing Afghan stories, it was easy to think of the nation as a terrorist state, but this films dips far enough into the past to unravel private histories, allowing us to get to know a handful of Afghans. Maybe they are, maybe they aren't symbolic of the rest of their people, but an obvious humanity is on display, as well as the danger and confusion of a people simultaneously suspicious and welcoming of the American bombardment that continues throughout the filming of this documentary. I actually saw this on the Sundance Channel, so I can't vouch for any extras in the DVD, but there's more to be learned here than in a hundred hours of network news.

Rating:
Summary: Incredible for Educators!
Review: This is a wonderful documentary. I highly encourage educators to use this film. Out of a list of documentaries on Afghanistan that I teach in my undergraduate course, my students always list this as the most influential film for them. It is both informative, humorous and very human. It presents such a wide variety of Afghans from the diaspora and in Afghanistan that it deconstructs any one image or stereotype of Afghans. Walied Osman, the Afghan American lead, certainly makes the navigation through these two seemingly different worlds easier. My students, New Yorkers, have connected with him and it is his guidance through Afghanistan that touches them deeply.

Rating:
Summary: Incredible for Educators!
Review: This is a wonderful documentary. I highly encourage educators to use this film. Out of a list of documentaries on Afghanistan that I teach in my undergraduate course, my students always list this as the most influential film for them. It is both informative, humorous and very human. It presents such a wide variety of Afghans from the diaspora and in Afghanistan that it deconstructs any one image or stereotype of Afghans. Walied Osman, the Afghan American lead, certainly makes the navigation through these two seemingly different worlds easier. My students, New Yorkers, have connected with him and it is his guidance through Afghanistan that touches them deeply.