Afghan Star

Afghan Star

87 Minutes

The documentary has been enjoying its highest profile in, well, maybe ever. While it won't make Transformers nervous, at has at least escaped the art houses, public television programs and high school classrooms that it was once relegated to. It's a little easy to be cynical about the recent glut of documentaries, some of which feel slapped together, sentimental and formulaic. Many of these films are feel good, heart warming movies in which the director profiles people (often cute kids) doing unexpected or interesting things (ballroom dancing, spelling, touching a truck for days). Though they tell true stories, they sometimes succumb to the cliché of big studio films

The Oprah-approved Afghan Star, which opens with a cute blind kid singing, has some affinities with films like Mad Hot Ballroom and Spellbound. Like those films it follows a competition, in this case Afghan Star, a popular television show that is Afghanistan's equivalent of American Idol. We're so inured to bad news out of that war-ravaged country, that there is some novelty to a film that presents ordinary Afghanis trying to win a singing contest. There's nothing overtly political about the film, other than the somewhat mushy, if no less true, sentiment that music can bring us together, as well as the suggestion that voting for their favorite contestants is their first taste of democracy.

Music and dancing were banned by the Taliban and so they are presented as a kind of liberating force, an example of a new openness, although such acts are still controversial. One person says about the ban: "Our souls were dead." Unfortunately, there's nothing very original or creative about the movie, which won two awards at Sundance's World Cinema Documentary competition. There is a familiar story arc, the contestants are all likable and the filming is unsurprising. I can't stand American Idol, so an Afghani version is only slightly more palatable. Since I know next to nothing about Afghani music, it was interesting to hear some examples of it, although slick pop with insipid lyrics is pretty similar, regardless of culture. And it doesn't feel that much different than Idol, although few American contestants probably have to worry about death threats if they dance or the chance that phone towers might be attacked by the Taliban.

What I found most compelling about Afghan Star was not the competition, but the sketch of Kabul, where the show is filmed, and its people, who, despite the political chaos and trauma of the past three decades, are seen going about their daily lives with little drama. Using the TV show as the hook, while an obvious commercial consideration, makes it a little gimmicky and I would have preferred a film that simply focused on the lives of ordinary Afghan citizens. Filmmaker Havana Marking, whose previous film was about disabled strippers, is British and she avoided anything about American forces, which seems a little naïve at best. At least some historical and political context beyond the superficial would have been helpful. What's more, she doesn't seem to be aware of the deep irony of a country that's been so traumatized and exploited by Western powers embracing an important aspect of Western media culture. A more provocative documentary might have further explored the tension between cultures and the tension between fundamentalism and emerging democracy. Such cynicism is perhaps out of place, as Afghan Star is not pretending to be much more than enjoyable inspiration and it does offer a much needed glimmer of hope.

by Lukas Sherman