Afghanistan, 1999 (thus two years before the American invasion):
Richard (Shaun Dooley) and Steve (Dean Andrews) are British citizens, but
in the employ of the Taliban to clear the land of landmines. Richard has
been away from the country a few months to bury his wife, but now that he
returns, he finds it a changed place: Basically, the Taliban have
strengthened their iron grip on society, and the Afghan people,
collectively shell-shocked from too much war already, have accepted their
laws in exchange for a little bit of peace for a chance - but old habits
(from the war) die hard, so pretty much everybody is carrying a machine
gun and has a loose trigger finger. And out of ignorance, Richard
oversteps the new set of laws occasionally and finds himself at the wrong
end of a gun. So why did Richard come back at all? Money? Excitement?
Wanting to do the right thing? No, mainly it's for Jamila (Tatmain Ul Qulb),
the company's lovely interpreter he has long fallen in love with (and she
with him). But then the only other woman on their crew is injured badly
and has to leave ... and so does Jamila, as Taliban law forbids single
women to get in touch with men with no female companion by their side.
Richard follows Jamila to Kandahar, to beg Taliban leader Khan (Rasheed
Naz) to make an exception and let Jamila join them again, but no way. At
least he manages to be alone with Jamila for an hour or two ... or he
thinks he's alone, actually they are caught, and the next day, Jamila is
to be stoned to death for this ... something Richard can prevent only
just, and gun in hand, he frees Jamila from the angry mob - to run
directly into the arms of Khan's men and are soon enough convicted to
death, without trial. Again, the two manage to escape, but during their
getaway, Jamila's killed by a stray bullet. And now, Richard finds himself
on the run ... and the only man who can help him get over the border to
Pakistan is a tribal leader (Hameed Sheikh), who might or might not be
trustworthy, while best friend Steve seems to get a little too caught up
in playing both sides ... One of the few Western films about
(relatively) contemporary Afghanistan that paints a differentiated picture
and refuses to take sides to deliver simple answers to complex problems
(now don't get me wrong, sure the Taliban are not painted in a positive
light, but the profit-oriented Westerners aren't faring much better). And
instead of bringing a piece of propaganda to the screen, the movie
actually concentrates on a very individual love story that gets evaporized
by political and religious facts in a war-torn country with a traumatized
populace - which is a backdrop the film understands to paint very well. A
rather impressive film, actually - recommended!
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