Afghan Star reveals that the Afghan people strongly crave to make up for years lost to Taliban repression and catch up with the 21st century.
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07/16/09
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Afghan Star (2009)
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Reviews Counted:50
Fresh:50
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
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
This is about an Afghan culture that is at a real turning point.
06/29/09
A lively, compelling and illuminating documentary.
06/28/09
Entertaining and pointed, reveals the cultural, political, and social power of an old-fashioned televised talent show in a country where voting is a newfangled notion.
06/27/09
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
British filmmaker Havana Marking's entertaining first feature documentary.
06/26/09
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
Simon Cowell does Kabul!
06/26/09
The movie uses the talent show Afghan Star as a prism through which to examine the fragmented tribal culture of Afghanistan as reflected in the backgrounds of four finalists (two of them women) and the public responses to their performances.
06/26/09
Top CriticIf nothing else, Afghan Star offers a reminder of how much has changed in Afghanistan from the late ’70s -- when Kabul was a secular-oriented city with co-ed universities and a thriving nightclub scene -- to the rise of the Taliban.
06/25/09
Though 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
An 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
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 CriticNot a radical act of film-making and visually, it is far from an inspired piece of work - but it's a great example of a film where the strong content rules supreme.
06/23/09
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 CriticAlthough 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.
06/21/09
Afghan Star provides us with an up-close peek at the more progressive side of war-torn Afghanistan.
06/06/09
Fascinating, 'Afghan Star' pictures the familiar dropped into a totally foreign context distanced even more by recent and continuing bloody strife.
05/30/09
Afghan Star is as entertaining as any talent competition but also has a strong socio-political story, providing a revealing look at Afghanistan as its rebuilds after years of war, Taliban rule and struggles with democracy.
05/28/09
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