Although not breaking new ground in terms of the way it is shot and edited, this is a compelling story and features some excellent archive footage.
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06/21/09
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Afghan Star (2009)
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Reviews Counted:49
Fresh:49
Rotten:0
Average Rating:7.7/10
Consensus: An enlightening and sobering documentary on Afghanistan’s very own X-Factor.
Theatrical Release:Jun 26, 2009 Limited
Synopsis: In Afghanistan you risk your life to sing. After 30 years of war and Taliban rule, pop culture has returned to the country—and since 2005, millions are tuning in to Tolo TV’s wildly popular... [More]
Director: Havana Marking
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Reviews for Afghan Star
In its vivid, suspenseful depiction of a high-stakes competition for prize money and the honor of being named Afghanistan's top singer, Afghan Star goes much deeper.
07/17/09
Using popular culture as a window onto the hopes and fears of contemporary Afghanistan, Havana Marking's winning documentary is worth making a song and dance about.
03/28/09
A lively, compelling and illuminating documentary.
06/28/09
This is about an Afghan culture that is at a real turning point.
06/29/09
If you think American Idol is a cultural phenomenon here, imagine its impact on a country devastated by 30 years of internal strife, religious intolerance, civil war and foreign invasion.
06/29/09
Marking has a good eye for capturing the contradictions of Afghanistan.
09/05/09
Although sadly rife with gut-clenching moments as those, Afghan Star is most thrilling when depicting the show's delicately balanced effort to bring Afghans together despite their fractious ethnic and clan boundaries.
06/23/09
Top CriticThough the who-will-win? structure both allows a too-brief peek into the quartet’s backgrounds and generates tension, the answer almost seems superfluous. The phenomenon itself is the real star.
06/25/09
It's an upbeat film, though hardly a convincing one, that shows there's more to the popular TV show than entertainment.
09/30/09
Fascinating, 'Afghan Star' pictures the familiar dropped into a totally foreign context distanced even more by recent and continuing bloody strife.
05/30/09
An absorbing — if, inevitably, impressionistic — picture of life in Kabul and beyond.
03/31/09
If you think it's impossible to underestimate the cultural significance of American Idol, go see British filmmaker Havana Marking's documentary about its Afghani imitator.
06/24/09
Top CriticAn extraordinary documentary about an American Idol-like TV show that manages to capture the volatile mix of history, religion, and pop culture in contemporary war-torn Afghanistan.
06/24/09
Afghan Star provides us with an up-close peek at the more progressive side of war-torn Afghanistan.
06/06/09
In the end, who wins and loses the competition is incidental. The power of Marking's film comes from the fact the competition exists at all.
06/26/09
The filmmaking itself is pretty much by the numbers...But there's some genuine tension as the competition field narrows.
09/24/09
Afghanistan's version of American Idol shines a spotlight on a culture in transition. Fascinating -- especially when it comes to the experiences of the woman who's risking her reputation and social standing in order to sing.
10/06/09
Fascinating and, when you see Afghan versions of Simon Cowell and Co. reacting to tryouts, a reminder of how fame and the thirst for it is the same in any language.
06/26/09
Of all the films to come out of the conflict, Afghan Star is the most provocative, because its message that people are essentially the same is a dubious, double-edge sword.
09/17/09
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