Afghan Star (Monday, June 29, 2009) (78)

This documentary follows a season of the hit Afghan television show, Afghan Star - the Afghan version of American Idol. The interesting thing about this is that it takes contestants from all around the country from different ethnic groups and has the viewers vote for them - making some Pashtuns, for instance, vote for a Tajik kid. It also features (at least two) women competing in the show.

It should not go unmentioned that this show, which was watched by more than 11 million people (a third of the population) is produced on the smallest of shoe-string budgets and taped in a wedding banquet hall in Kabul (it's pretty funny to see the small space and how it's transformed into something that looks, at least on TV, to be rather nice). The winner of the show gets $5000 and the title of Afghan Star.

For me, the most important issue was how they dealt with the two women in the competition. That story was rather glossed over initially, but was addressed directly after a point when one of the women's lives was threatened after she slightly moved her hips on air. Apparently several religious leader folk had public pronouncements that the woman was loose and a whore. She was forced to move from her home in Herat to Kabul to hide. Even in Kabul, her safety is not certain.

After this incident, there are some semi-official government-ish rulings that the women can perform on the show if they don't dance, but just sing. There is also some discussion about the head scarves that the women wear - although I felt this was a bit under-discussed - especially considering how much we associate Afghanistan with burquas....

The strength of the movie is in the story - the remarkable fact that this society went from super oppressive only nine years ago, to a very modern one with a pop show whose winner is selected by text messaging. I can't say this is much better than a good Frontline special, but it is rather compelling and interesting. There are certainly things that it lacks in a filmic way, but it is nice.

Stars: 2 of 4