70 •Metro Magazine 195 | © ATOM
designed to provide a window into the milieu they chronicle.
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watches on. His face betrays his uncertainty over the death
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cope with tragedy, and an omen of tumult to come. In fact, his
world is about to change drastically and quickly. As foreboded
by the chatter of others, his mother soon weds another man,
becoming the third wife of a husband who doesn’t want to
keep her children.
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old. They’re both charged with moving herds, and they’re
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slings that the boys spend much of their time playing with – as
a means of learning to fend off wolves, but providing as much
fun as protection – and also enjoys an ease and camaraderie
neither has found elsewhere. Of course, though played out in
secret, their bond is forbidden due to the community’s strict
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also the least of their respective concerns.
In patient scenes,6NKE @MC 2GDDOwatches its charac
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thing out of the ordinary. It also stresses how – as heard inthe girls’ gossiping, as well as in a tale an old man tells the
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istence. The girls’ nattering is tinged with malicious intent:
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ing a serpent but being turned blind for previously killing its
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man spins a narrative about a wolf as big as a calf, known
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naked woman roaming the rocky landscape at night – may
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land, they prove ideal companions.6NKE @MC 2GDDOendeav
ours to show Afghan life beyond the cities, highlighting how its
portrait stands out from the prevailing views and depictions of
the country. Making reference to actual beliefs and tales, the
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of ordinary reality with magical moments, emblematic of its
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and cinema narratives about the nation.
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that viewpoint, as her own background makes plain. Born to
Afghan parents in Iran, she grew up in Tehran until the age of
eleven – far from coincidentally, the same age as her two pro
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The first-time feature filmmaker doesn’t seek to depict a fantastical
version of Afghan life; rather, she laces its presentation of ordinary reality
with magical moments, emblematic of its dissimilarity from the scenes of
conflict that monopolise media and cinema narratives about the nation.