Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by Doug Flynn (A) on April 03, 2005 at 20:21:55

In Reply to: I think too... posted by Harmonia on April 3, 2005 at 11:01:39:

Yes, I forgot to add that the ending was magnificent. Those shots from behind the feet of the Taliban (the only time you see the Taliban in the whole movie), and the view from behind the veil looking into the setting sun just outside the city of Kandahar made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Like you said, it's the complete opposite of what an ending is supposed to be, yet it still made sense.

By "cloying" I didn't mean a criticism. I meant claustrophobic, boxed in, a sense of helplessness and a loss of control. All intentional, and what makes the movie so great.

I just had a thought that the movie reminded me of the surrealist/existentialist Persian novel "The Blind Owl" by Sedagh Hedayat (an unknown masterpiece IMHO) in that it has an opium dream, hallucinatory quality about it (not that I know what an opium dream is like!).

I think most people viewed the movie as a "right on" tirade against the dreaded Taliban (if the movie had been made at any other time it probably would have been ignored). They don't appreciate the existentialist nature of the movie. Pity. I'm glad you "got it".

Cheers. Doug