The Beauty Academy of Kabul

Much like those wickedly funny South Park episodes about well-intentioned but clueless liberals attempting to save the world, The Beauty Academy of Kabul is sometimes a portrait of misguided activism. Not that economically and socially empowering Afghanistan's women by teaching them beautician skills is a bad idea: women once accustomed to Western fashion and a little modernity—only to be buried under burkas and terrorized by Islamic radicals during the 1990s and beyond—definitely welcome a return to the old normalcy. The titular academy, run by a mellow British woman and staffed by female hairdressers from America—all volunteers, half of them Afghans returning home for the first time in decades—is a fine effort to help wives and mothers make some income in shattered, war-torn Kabul. But as director Liz Mermin makes clear here, those lofty goals are complicated by harsh realities: the postwar environment seems terribly dangerous, with armed men looking askance at the school's activities, and the students often remind their foreign instructors that they aren't at liberty to show skin or talk back to their husbands. Mermin is skilled at separating the honorable intent of the school from the dopey assumptions of several U.S. beauticians (including a brassy loudmouth whose New-Age-y lectures to women who have been through an unknowable hell are downright embarrassing). But nothing beats the academy's graduation ceremony, at which grizzled officers from the United Nations' peacekeeping force are asked to hold hands. A thought-provoking profile, this is recommended. [Note: DVD extras include 18 deleted scenes (57 min.), a post-screening Q&A session with filmmaker Liz Mermin (13 min.), a filmmaker bio, a link to a resource guide, and trailers. Bottom line: a fine extras package for a solid documentary.] (T. Keogh)