Kabul Transit

David Edwards and Gregory Whitmore went to Afghanistan's capital of Kabul in 2003 to film this documentary profile of the city in the post-Taliban era. Taking a cinéma vérité approach to their subject, the filmmakers reveal a metropolis that could be charitably dubbed a “mess.” In the two years since the expulsion of the Taliban from the city, Kabul appears to be a place where nothing is working as anticipated. Young female university students bemoan the absence of the promised civil rights protections for women, NATO troops work slowly to bring repairs to the city's collapsed infrastructure, moneychangers hold sway in the absence of a centralized financial services system, foreign educators fill in for the lack of teachers, and a police officer complains that he was reprimanded for being too successful in fighting local crime. Some older traditions continue, such as an elaborate kite-flying tournament (an activity familiar to those who've read the book or seen the film of The Kite Runner), while a few incongruous Western imports (such as a karaoke bar) have taken root. But, overall, Kabul Transit paints a grim picture of the city in transition as it struggles into the 21st century. While the film is somewhat outdated—considering that it was shot five years ago—it nonetheless offers an invaluable record of the problems plaguing the first outpost in the War on Terror. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)