Award-winning filmmakers, Phil Grabsky and Shoaib Sharifi present a real-life epic of boyhood and manhood, filmed across twenty years in one of the most embattled corners of the globe.
This extraordinary documentary, directed by Phil Grabsky and Shoaib Sharifi, follows its subject, Mir Hussein, for twenty years, from the age of seven to being a news cameraman in Kabul. The plethora of footage is both an intimate and expansive look at life under two decades of war. It begins in 2018 with an explosion carried out by a suicide bomber in Kabul. As Mir races to the site, a second suicide bomber sets off explosives after unsuspecting journalists, police, and paramedics arrive. These kinds of attacks barely made the mainstream news in the US compared to the messy withdrawal of US and NATO armed forces that are currently taking place.
Mir, a Shia Muslim, gives a brief overview of Afghanistan before he was born: the Communist Party seized power, then the Soviets invaded, next, the Taliban took over, temporarily harboring Osama Bin Laden. According to Mir, the Taliban refused to hand over Bin Laden, but recent reports have proven former President Bush rejected the Taliban’s offer to trade Bin Laden if the US would discontinue bombing Afghanistan. After the United States invaded Afghanistan, Mir states that most people were optimistic the US would rebuild their war-torn country. In reality, the US spent $2.3 Trillion on the war and only a small portion on aid. Between its rare minerals, opium, and natural gas, Afghanistan is a resource-rich country.
Mir lived with his sister and parents in a tiny cave in Bamiyan, near the iconic ruins of massive Buddha statues which were destroyed by the Taliban for being false idols. The ambitious documentary began when the filmmakers visited Mir’s family and began following him at the age of seven. After lugging Jerry cans of water up to their cave, Mir tells the cameraman his mother is sick, and they don’t have access to medicine. In the background, US attack helicopters roam the vast skies while Mir smiles innocently at the camera. Mir’s father, Abdul, is interviewed and has seen his share of personal tragedies. Murwarid, Mir’s mother, details their difficult circumstances like struggling to clothe their children and eating grass for meals since the US military has bombed their once-thriving farmlands into useless patches of dirt. Mir’s older sister marries a kind man, Khoshdel, who looks after Mir.
Mir describes the intricate system of Afghanistan‘s various local tribes who rule the countryside. The Afghan government’s limited power remains centralized in its cities – a recurring global issue when all the resources and infrastructure lie within an urban environment – thus alienating a majority of people residing in rural areas. After moving to Sheikah, Mir begins to attend a school that is guarded by a heavy caliber machine gun that looks capable of taking down a commercial airliner. Unfortunately, Abdul’s waning health forces the teenage Mir to drop out of school and work in the dangerous coal mines. Khoshdel, who’s illiterate, helps Mir buy a motorbike and encourages him to resume school for an opportunity in Kabul. An awkward exchange with US soldiers at a checkpoint makes Mir chuckle to the camera stating, “they said they are here for our security, but we haven’t benefited from their presence. No peace and no infrastructure after ten years.” And time goes by, Mir witnesses more violence and further destruction of his homeland. Regardless of whether it was the Taliban, US military, or NATO pulling the trigger, civilians were always collateral damage.
Now twenty-seven, Mir lives in a quaint home along with his wife and their three adorable children. His wife thinks the US withdrawal could decrease the endless bloodshed, while Mir believes life is safer under the troops. The future of the Afghan people hangs in the balance and this astounding documentary is necessary viewing for anyone that cares to learn more.
In Select Theaters Friday, August 27th
