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Movies / Upcoming / The Beauty Academy of Kabul
The Beauty Academy of Kabul

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The Beauty Academy of Kabul (2006)

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Reviews Counted:53

Fresh:46

Rotten:7

Average Rating:6.9/10

Consensus: There's nothing frivolous about beauty school when hearing about the individual lives of these women in Afghanistan, and the contrast between them and the idealistic beauticians from America.

Rated: Not Rated

Genre: Education/General Interest

Theatrical Release:Mar 24, 2006 Limited

Synopsis: After the Taleban's fall, a group of American beauticians take their curling irons to Afghanistan to open the country's first beauty school. --© BBC Films

Director: Liz Mermin

Director: Liz Mermin
Studio: Shadow Distribution

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Reviews for The Beauty Academy of Kabul

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
04/23/09
Gerald Peary
Gerald Peary
Boston Phoenix

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | comment Comment
08/07/08
Jonathan Kiefer
Jonathan Kiefer
Sacramento News & Review

Captures the essence of Americans' sense of empowerment and innate goodness -- and our cultural myopia.

Full Review Source: Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) | comment Comment
03/14/07
Ken Hanke
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

It is that lack of small-minded judgment which distinguishes The Beauty Academy of Kabul and which makes it thoughtful, yet so much fun to watch.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
03/01/07
Maria Garcia
Maria Garcia
Film Journal International

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Cinema Signals | comment Comment
01/16/07
Jules Brenner
Jules Brenner
Cinema Signals

A skin deep in beauty documentary with hairdressers as healers.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
12/24/06
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Most of the students had suffered or witnessed horrific abuses and crimes under the Taliban, yet the film shows two fatuous U.S. instructors who clearly missed the sensitivity training.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
12/15/06
Andrea Gronvall
Andrea Gronvall
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

a spiny, puzzling and highly entertaining film, and whatever you go into it thinking, you're likely to come out thinking something else.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
12/15/06
Andrew O'Hehir
Andrew O'Hehir
Salon.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A few of the academy’s students receive personal profiles, and their resilience after years of war and oppression is remarkable. If ever that “triumph of the human spirit” cliché could be applied to a group of people, this is it.

Full Review Source: Kansas City Star | comment Comment
12/08/06
Loey Lockerby
Loey Lockerby
Kansas City Star

The teachers have moxie. The students have courage. Mermin's warm, funny, beautiful and deeply humane documentary certainly honors the latter.

Full Review Source: Oregonian | comment Comment
09/15/06
Mike Russell
Mike Russell
Oregonian

Any film that raises this many interesting questions is worth seeing, though Beauty Academy never goes quite deep enough to become essential.

Full Review Source: Denver Post | comment Comment
07/14/06
Michael Booth
Michael Booth
Denver Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It rather eloquently makes the case that individuals who have confidence and self-worth can build a country with confidence and self-worth.

Full Review Source: Capital Times (Madison, WI) | comment Comment
06/30/06
Rob Thomas
Rob Thomas
Capital Times (Madison, WI)

This movie shows us a small bit of daily life as lived by real people. For that alone, we should be grateful.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
06/22/06
Richard Nilsen
Richard Nilsen
Arizona Republic
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Ugly Americans try to teach Afghans to be pretty.

Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | comment Comment
06/22/06
Phil Villarreal
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star

Yes, (Mid)west is (Mid)west and (Mid)east is (Mid)east, but the twain do meet -- sort of -- in this fascinating, unassuming little film.

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
06/15/06
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It's a demonstration of the ancient proverb: Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today, but teach a man to fish and you have fed him for a lifetime.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
06/03/06
Marjorie Baumgarten
Marjorie Baumgarten
Austin Chronicle

The interaction between the self-absorbed, oblivious hairdressers and their quiet, stubborn, traditional students runs from the hilarious to the heartbreaking.

Full Review Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | comment Comment
06/02/06
Michele Kenner
Michele Kenner
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Without editorializing, Mermin raises fascinating questions about the cultural impact of globalization, the allure of the West, and the troubled history of an ancient land.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | comment Comment
05/19/06
Steven Rea
Steven Rea
Philadelphia Inquirer
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

That the film is even this watchable has to do more with the subjects themselves.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
05/19/06
Jeff Vice
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

Director Liz Mermin subtly captures both sides of a cultural divide.

Full Review Source: Film.com | comment Comment
05/19/06
Sean Means
Sean Means
Film.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
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