May 1, 2007
David Edwards
Carl W. Vogt '58 Professor of Anthropology
"Making Sense with Pictures: KABUL TRANSIT a Year Later"
Film Synopsis
Kabul Transit is a sensual meditation on the meaning of security in a city
pummeled by decades of war. An earnest Canadian peacekeeper reflects on the
daunting task of rebuilding a country in the absence of a clear sense of
direction. Female university students provide a sardonic perspective on Western
efforts to save Afghanistan from Afghans. A salesman tries to sell
multi-million dollar fire equipment to a government that cannot afford uniforms
for its policemen. At the same time, kite runners, amulet makers and herbal
doctors transmit an unlikely sense of hope and humor, insisting that though
buildings, roads and bodies have been broken by war, the spirit of Kabul
survives.
Film Review, (Variety, July 21 2006)