Snow Monkey

Australian filmmaker/photojournalist George Gittoes's challenging film overturns stereotypes about chaos-torn Afghanistan using a blend of nonfiction and dramatic confabulation. Yellow House is a collective in Jalalabad that employs art, theatrics, stuntwork, and creative fun as a refuge and haven for semi-feral street children. Boys who would routinely prey on each other or be drawn to violence thus learn to cooperate, and here they open up in interviews for the gentle, avuncular Gittoes. In return, these kids help out by selling DIY Yellow House movies (starring local idol Amir Shah Talash) on the streets (one industrious boy nicknamed Snow Monkey sells ice cream). From early scenes of decapitations and animal butchery to the braggadocio of gang youth—who can simultaneously seem fearsome and innocent—viewers are kept guessing as to what is real, what is role-playing, and what stories are freestyled around actual events (most stunning, a frightful and gory Kabul bank bombing, filmed at ground zero by the kids). When an Afghan Taliban rep visits Yellow House and claims not only that his sect is peaceful but also that rampant Islamist terrorism is being perpetrated by Pakistani infiltrators, viewers will be unsure of what to believe. Regardless, Snow Monkey presents the children and adults living in a much-demonized and war-wounded culture with heartbreaking humanity. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)