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Kandahar
Avatar Films


8.8

based on 28 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 8 votes
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Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Niloufar Pazira, Hassan Tantai, and Sadou Teymouri

Set in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, this is the story of Nafas (Pazira), a young female journalist who escaped the country to grow up in Canada and who returns incognito, smuggled in, to save her younger sister.

GENRE(S):	Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Mohsen Makhmalbaf
DIRECTED BY:	Mohsen Makhmalbaf
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: May 13, 2003 Video: May 13, 2003 Theatrical: December 14, 2001
RUNNING TIME:	85 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	France / Iran
LANGUAGE(S):	English / Farsi (with English subtitles)

Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, 2001 Cannes Film Festival

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Presented without preachiness or affectation, Kandahar is a short, matter-of-fact visit to hell.

100

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Makhmalbaf's astounding and haunting imagery tells a story of devastation, desperation and poverty.

Portland Oregonian Staff (Not credited)

The director manages to maintain a steady streak of grim humor. Extreme repression can be bleakly funny in its idiocy, when viewed from a distance.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Though it might lack in Hollywood production values, it overflows with moral impact.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

You won't forget this film -- it's devastating.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

This remarkably revealing and timely film, in which the depiction of pain and sorrow is suffused with a sense of beauty and a graceful, flowing style, more than lives up to glowing advance notices.

Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman

The story is simple and true-to-life, and the technique is naturalistic, using nonprofessional actors, photography that emphasizes the characters' environment, and deliberate narrative pacing that mimics real-time events.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Kandahar does not provide deeply drawn characters, memorable dialogue or an exciting climax. Its traffic is in images.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Watching this film wakes you up; it is a window on an Iran and an Afghanistan we should have taken account of long ago -- seen though a master's eye, felt through a poet's touch.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Kandahar found itself in real-life controversy last December, when one of its actors was accused of murder.

Boston Globe Loren King

A bleak road movie that often ambles. But its many moments of poetic grace make this haunting and harrowing journey a rewarding one.

The New Yorker David Denby

Abrupt and fragmentary, but powerful. [Dec 10 2001, p. 111]

Film Threat Rich Cline

The result is stunning -- both as a narrative film and as a document of the place and time.

Variety Deborah Young

A visually exalting, emotionally horrifying view of Afghanistan under the Taliban regime.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

That's the movie: It's taking us inside the burqa to the woman.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

While it's often harsh in style and melancholy in subject, Kandahar taps into veins of humor and compassion as well.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

What proves the validity of Kandahar is that, by the end, all these scenes are human ruins of the same nightmare world.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Pazira, whose sapphire eyes blaze through the lattice of her slate-gray burqa, isn't much of an actress, as her singsong narration attests. But when not speaking, she has a commanding presence and is an effective witness to the ravages of war.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

The world's newfound familiarity with the region's troubles only make Kandahar more compelling.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

A stark and beautiful film traces a Afghan woman's journey across a landscape we may never understand.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

The movie feels truncated, but it communicates a certain urgency and at times a powerful sense of the absurd.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Makhmalbaf shot this film under extremely difficult circumstances, and it sometimes shows; but it's still an important achievement.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

With its lyrical vision of oppression, looks, if anything, milder now than it might have before the war.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

Unfortunately, you are often distractingly aware that you are watching re-enactments of real events.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Among the unforgettable images is that of artificial limbs floating to earth on parachutes, while below, one-legged men on crutches race each other to the prizes.

New Times (L.A.) Luke Y. Thompson

A film worth your time, and if you know going into it that there's no closure, it'll give you all the more freedom to enjoy what IS there.

Chicago Reader Staff (Not Credited)

The acting is mainly horrendous, the English dialogue frequently awkward, but they're overcome by the beautiful colors and settings and a grim sense of the uncanny spilling over into twisted humor.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

Kandahar feels like a Magritte painting rendered in sand tones, and your eyes are drawn to the screen. There aren't enough of these moments, though, and Mr. Makhmalbaf lessens their power by repeating them.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.8 (out of 10) based on 8 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

masoud b. gave it a9:
Good.

Ruby Q gave it a6:
An important look at an oppressive, war-ravaged nation, but my God the lead character (an Afghan-Canadian woman trying to find her sister) acts like a stupid Westerner blundering around clueless in a third world war zone. She takes off her burqua at every opportunity and even waves around a tape-recorder in a crowd of Afghan women. Pushed the boundaries of plausibility in order to set up explanations for viewers. High marks for being eye-opening but low for common sense.

Prateek G. gave it a9:
So much of how we view this movie comes from the prism of 9/11. The horrors of that day and the effects on international relations forces us to look beyond the acting and story. Some scenes are absolutely heartbreaking and have stayed with me. I am fascinated by the glimpses of the middle east provided by this and other movies.

Jessica G. gave it a 9:
Great movie, it's beautiful not for any professional acting but for being artistic and eye-opening.

Kris S. gave it a 10:
A beautiful movie in all its rawness.

Chad S. gave it a 9:
All those little girls at the onset of "Kandahar" being told they won't be needing an education in Afghanistan will break your heart, that is, if you're not filled with outrage. The burkas are beautiful to look at, and that, of course, is the grotesque irony and horror of this near-classic movie.

Kandahar Avatar Films

Kandahar
Avatar Films