Danish artist, co-director, and pilot Simone Aaberg Kaern embarks on a strange and dangerous personal mission in Flying Down to Kabul when she decides to help an Afghan teenager fulfill her dream of becoming her country's first fighter pilot. Kaern, who initially read about Farial's wish in a Copenhagen newspaper, buys a 40-year-old, single-engine canvas-covered Piper-Colt plane to fly from Copenhagen to Kabul, a journey that requires some 50 hours in the air and includes 33 stops along the way. The extraordinary amount of time involved (the trip takes several weeks) isn't as much of a challenge as simply surviving the dangerous territories that Kaern and her co-director and co-pilot Magnus Bejmar must cross, often without permission. Kaern takes several white-knuckle gambles, in particular lingering in Iran for a day longer than their visa allows, while simultaneously being told by U.S. military authorities that they can't enter war-zone Afghanistan. Watching Kaern finesse her way through tough spots with Iranians, the Taliban, and Americans is something to see, as is her decision to chance flying over Afghan mountains at 12,000 feet in a plane not built to tackle that kind of height. After all of that, meeting up with Farial in Kabul would seem to be wonderfully rewarding, but even though Kaern manages to take Farial up in the air, back on the ground the pair encounter cultural obstacles. An engaging, thought-provoking documentary, this is highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (T. Keogh)
Flying Down to Kabul
(2007) 78 min. DVD: $19.95 ($89.95 w/PPR). Media Targeting Associates. Volume 23, Issue 4
Flying Down to Kabul
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