Afghan Star
- Posted: 25th Mar 2010
- Category: Reviews
The last thing most of us probably associate with Afghanistan is lighthearted Saturday night TV. But following the invasion in 2001, Afghan Star - whose format closely follows that of the UK’s X Factor - has become one of the country’s most popular shows. In her award-winning documentary, Havana Marking follows producers, fans and contestants on the three-month journey from regional auditions to the final, which was watched by an astonishing third of Afghans.Some elements of the show are comically familiar: the harsh judges, the cheesy songs, the obsessive fans desperate to get to a TV before the opening credits. But in a country where democracy, music and television were outlawed for years, Afghan Star necessarily takes on a greater meaning. In Marking’s hands, what could have been treated as frivolous subject matter in fact says a huge amount about how the country is changing: different ethnic groups take part in the same competition, women are allowed to audition as well, and voting is becoming a normal part of life.
But Afghan Star tells a more complex story, and what initially seems like a full embrace of Western values becomes less clear-cut when one of the female contestants (Setara Hussainzada) provokes outrage by dancing on stage. Setara instantly becomes a hate figure to many, as a series of shockingly vitriolic vox pops shows, and Afghan Star is labelled 'immoral and un-Islamic' by the powerful Council of Scholars. Despite repeated insistence from interviewees that the Taleban are gone, they are a constant, haunting presence in the film and their views still clearly have a stronghold in the general population. The other female contestant – there were only three in total, compared with two thousand male auditionees - had to learn to sing in secret and also suffered death threats.This is a fascinating view of a country that is constantly in the news and yet about which most of us know very little. Marking steers clear of the familiar scenes of car bombs and soldiers, preferring to show us instead day to day life in a country where the young population (60% of Afghans are under 20) is keen to enjoy itself. The film’s message is a hopeful one: it is about the value of being able to sing in public, which may not be one of the successes trumpeted by the Allies, but which clearly makes a vast difference to people’s lives. Without simplifying or ignoring the huge problems facing the country, Afghan Star is a genuinely uplifting film and a powerful reminder to audiences of the importance of self-expression that remains under threat in Afghanistan.
Afghan Star is showing at the ICA in London from Friday 27th March. For more details see the ICA website.