സ്വര്‍ണഞരമ്പ്‌

സ്വതന്ത്ര പത്രപ്രവര്‍ത്തനത്തിന്‌ ഒരാമുഖം

War-torn Afghanistan through reel eyes

Sreeda U M

There’s nothing like the World War II that made such an impact in the world and instigated thousands of art works, movies and series. Even after seven decades it lingers on our cultural and social milieu as a major theme of interest. Therefore, war films were more frequent in the twentieth century. But the new millennium arose with many more complex conflicts especially in the middle east. Peace had to fly the coop from terrorist gunpoint. The world’s heart beats began to pound faster whenever middle east is on news. Afghanistan is a major one among these war-shredded countries. The disregarded were the Afghan people who went through years of commotion and violence. Now, as the US is set to withdraw its troops after two decades of war, let’s take a look at how this era was portrayed in cinema.

Most of the movies and series on this subject are obviously American. Though a tint of ‘ Hollywood perspective’ is prominent in many of them, they show the dark side and controversies attached to the war. The 2007 movie Charlie Wilson’s War presents the beginning story of this conflict. While Lions for Lambs (2007), Dirty Wars (2013), and The Kill Team (2013) focused on the thin line between the heroes and villains, Zero Dark Thirty and Lone Survivor told the tales of Afghanistan in aspects of survival and grit. Taxi to the Dark Side (2007), The Unknown Known (2013) and The Tillman Story (2010) are also notable ones among them as they talked about the politics and propaganda behind the US invasion. The documentaries Restrepo (2010) and Korengal (2014) hold a special place as they captured the intensity of infantry combats in a way that no one had attempted. We could go on and on about such substantial movies which were reached to many people around the world.

Afghan cinema never had a chance to flourish, stuck in the middle of many political turmoil. The dozen movies made in the twenty first century were all based on the political situation. Siddiq Barmak’s Osama (2003) earned many critical acclamations as it was made in the viewpoint of Afghan people. It presented the struggles of a pre-teen girl living under Taliban regime disguised as a boy to support her family. In the documentary 16 Days in Afghanistan (2008) by Anwar Hajher filmed his own experience when returning to his home country demolished by violence, after twenty- five years. The French- Afghan film Kabuli Kid leaves our thoughts haunted by the horror of warfare. Yama Rauff’s No Woman surpassed the norms in Afghan cinema by courageously showing the obstacles women has to overcome in a society dominated by inequality as well as terrorism. A Letter to the President by Roya Sadat is an analogous one to it.

In a nutshell, all of these movies distinctively depict how terrorism and politics wallop various human lives. The aftereffects of such a historic warfare will prevail over many centuries, at least in the lives of Afghan people and nourish artistic expressions in times to come.

                                                                                                

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Share this post

Related

ഓരോരോ സ്ത്രീകൾ
ഓരോരോ ഋതുക്കൾ

ആദ്യ പുസ്തകമായ “ഇന്ത്യൻ റെയിൻബോ” യിലൂടെ അത്രയും പ്രിയപ്പെട്ട എഴുത്തുകാരിയായി മാറിയ ലെഫ്റ്റനന്റ് കേണൽ ഡോ സോണിയ ചെറിയാന്റെ രണ്ടാമത്തെ പുസ്തകം ഇറങ്ങുന്നു എന്നറിഞ്ഞപ്പോൾ തന്നെ…

പ്രസംഗം

പ്രസംഗികൻ സ്റ്റേജിൽ ഇന്നത്തെ ജാതി, മത, വേർതിരിവിനെപ്പറ്റിയും, ദുഷിച്ച ചിന്തെയെപ്പറ്റിയും അദ്ദേഹം വാതോരാതെ സംസാരിച്ചു. ജാതി ചിന്ത ഇന്നത്തെ സമൂഹത്തിൽ നിന്നും തുടച്ചുനീക്കേണ്ട കാര്യത്തെപ്പറ്റി അദ്ദേഹംഘോര…

പ്രണയലേഖനം

പിശുക്കരിലും പിശുക്കനായ കാമുകാ ..കുറച്ചധികം വിസ്തരിച്ചൊരു മെസ്സേജ് അയച്ചാൽഇന്ത്യയിലോ വിദേശത്തോ നിനക്ക് കരം കൊടുക്കേണ്ടി വരുമോ … ഒരു മുതല്മുടക്കുമില്ലാത്ത സ്മൈലിഅതിപ്പോഉമ്മയായാലുംചോന്ന ഹൃദയമായാലുംഒന്നോ രണ്ടോ .അല്ലാതെഅതില്കൂടുതൽ…