The fact that Makhmalbaf's movie didn't actually follow the story nor... well... end is the least of its problems. Great set location props up good cinematography to visually stunning but it doesn't save the movie. Wooden acting and scripted interplay-from apologetic to demonising-are the first things to raise hackles. It is no small wonder that the film was lost even amongst foreign film fans NOT in North America before september 11th and the WTC attacks. To film young students reciting the Qu'ran then rattling off the bloody effect of the Kalishnakov rifle (AK-47) as part of an unscripted documnetary would be one thing but to set it up specifically is another. Makhmalbaf clearly wants you to see Islam=violence. If this had been the only scene it may have been less of a red flag but the "Chariot's of Fire" for cripples was over the top. The message may have been a juxtaposition of desperation and desire but it failed miserably. To equate this movie as "a great introduction to Afghanistan and the Afghan people" is to do a ridiculous injustice to a peoples and culture (hey just because Nelofer Pazira is from there doesn't mean she's 'the' authority or an unbiased documentarian!!) From the credulous defense of the Burqha to the fact that it was one of the worst pretend-this-is-a-documentary films it should rate nothing more than fortunate propaganda. [...]

5/10