Kandahar is the second action-drama about Afghanistan I've seen in the last month. Guy Ritchie's The Covenant is about the same subject matter. It's different but also very similar. I find it amusing to see the return of very similar movies released in the same year (think Olympus Has Fallen and White House Down). Fortunately, in this case both movies turned out great.
I enjoyed Kandahar and found it entertaining throughout. It has some cool action scenes that seem to emphasize realism. There is an action scene at night which had me complaining at first because I couldn't see much. I wondered why they didn't use some kind of lighting trick. But as I watched, I realized this is how it would look if I was in that situation, something I've never seen.
The action is only a small portion of this movie. But I was still invested because of the story and characters. There were scenes of suspense as well as slower character moments, but I was never bored. It does a good job of balancing many moving parts (different groups, races and motivations).
Watching this movie, I couldn't help but notice how far we've come regarding Islamophobia in action movies. I grew up watching action movies where brown skin = bad guy. And even worse, they were usually portrayed as gross and barbaric. Kandahar does a much better job of illustrating the complexity of the situation, how not everything is black and white, and how there are people within those communities trying to fight against what's wrong.
I think The Covenant does a better job of holding all sides (including our own) accountable, whereas Kandahar shows sympathy without ever asking for accountability. Even the main character does some bad things that are never addressed. I wish they went that extra step to show how detrimental the outside influences can be on these situations.
Nevertheless, I had a good time with this movie and am happy with how fairly and not one-sided things are portrayed.
(1 viewing, early screening Mystery Movie Monday 5/15/2023)
