“What We Left Unfinished,” tells the story of five unfinished fiction feature films from the Communist era in Afghanistan (1978-1991), and the people who went to crazy lengths to make them, in a time when films were weapons, filmmakers became targets, and the dreams of constantly shifting political regimes merged with the stories told onscreen.
“What We Left Unfinished” is the latest release out of Dekanalog’s eclectic collection. Director Mariam Ghani’s thoughtful documentary compiles an ocean of images, encapsulating a lost moment and the recent blood-soaked history of Afghanistan.
After the Afghan Communist Party assumed control of the country with a coup in 1978, the film industry became a tool of the state and was taken over by the Soviets just a year later. The documentary focuses on five incomplete films made during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Interviews with surviving filmmakers discuss constantly being pulled between warring Mujahideen guerrilla fighters and government troops.
The five unfinished projects are “The April Revolution” (1978), “Downfall” (1987), “The Black Diamond” (1989), “Wrong Way” (1990), and “Agent” (1991). The films dealt with tribal feuds, forbidden love, geopolitics, drug smuggling, and progressive topics like female liberation. The latter issue was compelling since a small but burgeoning group of modern women were changing certain expectations by dressing non-conservatively, smoking, drinking and other freedoms taken for granted.
One of the filmmakers mentions how the government would provide any military vehicle or army unit for production. It’s not dissimilar to the revelations of Hollywood and the Department of Defense enjoying a similar quid pro quo relationship. An entertaining anecdote when a film crew was using real bullets since blanks weren’t available, found themselves in a firefight with rival anti-communist Afghan soldiers. Incredibly, the well-armed film crew was able to fend their attackers off.
Most of the artists were forced to flee after the CIA-funded Mujahideen, which became the Taliban, defeated the Soviets and took over. Subjects were mostly in agreement that the communist government was far better than the medieval Taliban, which ended up destroying nearly three hundred films. I was interested in all five projects but “Black Diamond” and “Agent” (focusing on the elusive and perpetual opium crisis) were the most intriguing. Even tragically unfinished, the various footage provides a poignant reminder of the necessary and often transactional relationship between art and the state.
Now playing in select theaters and in virtual theaters
