The Land of the Enlightened

This film is very effective in conveying the harsh beauty of Afghanistan, using sweeping or time-lapsed shots of the barren landscape and mountain ranges. It also shows the people of these remote regions and some of their daily activities, and it paints a powerful picture of a country scarred by war.

The narrative, if you would call it that, is about a few groups of children who live as bands of robbers and miners. Their stories are obviously fictional and fantastic. Interspersed with scenes with the children is footage of US and Afghan soldiers, some of it actual combat footage. The scenes with military personnel are undoubtedly not staged, but cut in a way that they loosely fit the film. A few scenes are played by actors portraying soldiers.

Initially, I was mesmerized by the images of the landscape and people. But as the movie dragged on, there was very little I could relate to story-wise. It all seemed very random to me, a collection of scenes with no real direction or cohesion. Sure, one of the children has a dream he is pursuing, but to me that was not enough to carry the film.

I should think that the real stories of the people in the film are probably much more interesting and worth telling. The kids looked like they had fun acting though.

Apparently this took seven years to make. Since the actors did not age at all during the story, I would say six years worth of collected footage was combined with a weak narrative shot in a few months, to warrant a theatrical release. Interesting but it lacked substance.