Kandahar

This film out of Afghanistan was made prior to the U.S.'s removal of the Taliban during the early stages of the war on terror. It's about an Afghani woman, named Nafas, who was raised in Canada and became a reporter. Her sister, who still lives in Afghanistan, is planning to commit suicide, so Nafas sets out to rejoin her, however the it is very difficult to get across the border from Iran into Afghanistan. This is a farily amateurish film that feels absolutely authentic -- that's probably because it is, though it might work better as a documentary. Nafas has the advantage (and disadvantage) of being a woman, which means she must be veiled from head to toe to prevent anyone from seeing her which comes in handy when not wanting to be found. However, we get to see just how poorly Muslim women are treated. (At the doctor's, a curtain must be in between the woman and the doctor and they can only be examined through a small hole cut in the curtain.) The actor's, no doubt, are not professional actor's. If you're interested in Muslim cultures or Taliban-era Afghanistan and Iran, then this would be a good film for you. While I won't remember this as a great film, I will remember an image of a bunch of men on crutches (whose arms and legs have been blown off by land mines) hobbling through the desert to get a few sets of artificial limbs that have been dropped off by airplane. This film captures the culture and the people with startling realism.