Saving Mes Aynak

The international outrage over the Taliban's destruction of the gigantic Bamiyan Buddhas in 2001 has not carried over to the proposed destruction of Mes Aynak, a site southeast of Kabul that holds the remains of an ancient Buddhist city containing numerous buildings—both temples and homes—as well as statues, manuscript fragments, and other artifacts. This rich store of priceless antiquities is threatened because it lies atop the world's largest untapped deposit of copper, where the state-owned China Metallurgical Group Corporation has obtained government approval for a $3 billion open-pit mining project—a venture that will destroy the site while also having a devastating effect on local residents. Brent E. Huffman's documentary looks at the details of the proposed project through interviews with company and government officials amidst accusations of bribery and corruption, but his focus is on Afghan archaeologist Qadir Temori, who is leading a ragtag band of local workers in an attempt to excavate and preserve as much of Mes Aynak as possible before the mining begins—originally scheduled for 2012 but since postponed, partially due to Taliban-inspired violence in the area. Although Huffman also includes footage of foreign experts, mostly French, who assist in the operation (and notes how modest funds from the West are being raised to support it), he rightly keeps the spotlight on Temori, a courageous man who is literally putting his life on the line in a desperate effort to save his country's cultural treasures from being sacrificed in the name of putative economic returns that will probably never reach ordinary Afghans. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)