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Afghanistan under the Taliban was a world without music. Television was blacked out. Dancing was sacrilegious.
“Our souls were dead, now we want them to wake up,” says a finalist of Afghan Star, an indigenous Pop Idol.
Tracking the rebuilding of this decimated, divided country through the prism of trash TV might seem trite, but Havana Marking’s ambitious if overstretched documentary is sobering stuff: one female contestant receives death threats for dancing and the SMS voting system represents the Afghan people’s first encounter with democracy.
There’s a long way to go, but perhaps the revolution will be televised after all.
Matt Glasby
The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine.
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