Critic Reviews

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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