Kandahar

One of the most interesting things about Iranian cinema is how uniformly excellent the acting is, so Kandahar, by Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf, comes as quite a surprise, insofar as the acting is so deeply, tremendously awful. On the other hand, the script sucks too, so I guess there’s a certain parity there, but even if you have to deliver dialogue like "you wear a burqha…this beard is my burqha…," you’d think you could do it without sounding like you’re reading the line off a cue-card. Still, Kandahar occasionally manages to get past the terrors of it’s acting and provide some real insight into the horrors of living in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. Viewed as a documentary, it’s actually a fairly successful, beautifully photographed film. Of course, it’s not actually a documentary, but, you know, if you’re feeling generous you could just pretend that it is one, and maybe have an educational experience, if not an aesthetically rich one.