Afghan Star - the Afghan version of American Idol

Here is a link to Afghan Star trailer, a movie about the Afghan version of American Idol (or british idol or wherever that horrible show originated). I have watched a few minutes of American Idol, and it is crap, the groups that appear are awful, I end up wanting to stab my hand with a steak knife to realize my own existence (from a Sartre novel, I am exaggerating...a little). anywho, this is a documentary about Afghan Star, and how the country enjoyed its freedom to watch something entertaining. Of course, the celebrity status the participants received was less than modest, and so incurred the wrath of Islamic fundamentalists. One of the women who appeared was sentenced to death, a Fatwa, from the Talliban. Another woman hid at her family's home in Herat, afraid to go outside. People watched on their satellite TV's, powered by generator (Honda, those Japanese make great generators) or car battery. On a side story, the story of how these batteries get rented is shown, very young boys are in charge of keeping the batteries charged and then wheeling them to renters. I guess you rent by the night or something. of course, the boys were filthy, out of a Dicken's poor house novel, and their hands were caked with....i dont know what, battery acid? Hey, but its a job, it was their rice bowl. anyway, the film shows the participants, and also the reaction of the audience, and everyday life in Afghanistan. Surprisingly, some of the scenes almost looked like life is normal - fairly good looking buildings, people dressed almost western, modern conveniences (like electricity, lights in the studio, makeup and so forth). so i guess the whole country isnt a recycling center surrounded by baked clay huts. I just find Afghanistan so depressing, its hard to discuss (see below for my lengthy rant about how f*cked up our policy has been to the Afghans for some many decades now). But, fascinating movie. Not as good as Nazi zombies getting chain sawed in Norway (below) but still entertaining. Watch for this film next semester in political film.