10 films about Afghanistan

The country's tumultuous history has served as the backdrop of many international films. From "Kandahar" to "The Kite Runner", here is a selection. By Elizabeth Grenier

  • Cartoon figures: a young girl with a headscarf embraced by an older man in Afghan dress
    "The Breadwinner" (2017): the award-winning Irish studio Cartoon Saloon created an animated film, "The Breadwinner", based on the best-selling novel by Deborah Ellis, about a determined young girl who takes on the appearance of a boy to support her family. Executive produced by Angelina Jolie, the film received an Oscar nomination for best animated feature
  • A woman on a Kabul rooftop looking at pigeons
    "Hava, Maryam, Ayesha" (2019): the latest film by Afghan director Sahraa Karimi premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2019. It portrays three women, all living in Kabul but in different social contexts, who deal in their own way with pregnancy. The filmmaker's recent open letter warning against the Taliban was sent out to the world just before Kabul was taken. She has since fled Afghanistan and is now in Kyiv
  • A young person holding a bucket in a mountainous desert landscape
    "Osama" (2003): under the first Taliban regime (1996–2001), women were banned from working in most fields of society, jeopardising subsistence for families whose male members were killed or injured in conflict. "Osama" follows a young girl who disguises herself as a boy to support her family. It was the first movie to be filmed entirely in Afghanistan since 1996, as the Taliban had also banned filmmaking
  • People crowded along a snowy path while children fly a kite
    "The Kite Runner" (2007): based on the best-selling novel by Khaled Hosseini and directed by German-Swiss filmmaker Marc Forster, "The Kite Runner" deals with universal themes such as guilt and redemption, but the story is anchored in Afghanistan's tumultuous past half century, covering the fall of the monarchy, the Soviet military intervention, the mass exodus of Afghan refugees and the Taliban regime
  • A woman wearing a burka
    "Kandahar" (2001): this film by Mohsen Makhmalbaf, one of Iran's great directors, tells the story of an Afghan-Canadian who returns to her homeland to save her sister from committing suicide. "Kandahar" didn't get much attention when it premiered at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. But then came the September 11 attacks, and the world wanted to find out more about the hardships faced by women in Afghanistan
  • Rows of women wearing burkas and sitting on mats in the sand behind book rests, wih an elderly bearded man in the front row
    "At Five in the Afternoon" (2003): two years later, Mohsen Makmalbaf's daughter, Samira, another leading name of the Iranian New Wave, also premiered a film centred on Afghan women at the Cannes Film Festival. "At Five in the Afternoon" tells the story of a young woman in war-torn Kabul who dreams of becoming president and tries to gain an education after the defeat of the Taliban. The film was also shot in the Afghan capital
  • A boy standing against a wall with his arms crossed
    "In This World" (2002): "In This World" portrays two young Afghan refugees on their illegal journey from a refugee camp in Pakistan to London. The drama directed by Michael Winterbottom was shot in documentary style, and had non-professional actors performing fictionalised versions of themselves. It won the Golden Bear award at the 2003 Berlin Film Festival and the BAFTA for the best non-English film
  • A bloodied US Navy SEAL holds the hand of a man in traditional Afghan dress, who is gesturing him to keep quiet
    "Lone Survivor" (2013): the film "Lone Survivor" is based on the best-selling account of U.S. Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell, which depicts his participation in Operation Red Wings, targeting a group of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan's Kunar Province in 2005. Luttrell, portrayed by Mark Wahlberg in the film, was the only one in his four-man SEAL team to survive an ambush; a helicopter sent to their aid was also shot down
  • Rambo with a weapon and his friend in a cleft in a rockface
    "Rambo III" (1988): the third film in Sylvester Stallone's series is set during the Soviet-Afghan War. Rambo heads to Afghanistan to rescue his former commander from the ruthless Soviet Army. Claims that the film initially had a dedication "to the brave Mujahideen fighters", later altered to "the gallant people of Afghanistan" after 9/11, have resurfaced this week - but fact checkers have found this to be only a myth
  • Man speaking on a 1980s cell phone at an election celebration, people smiling in the background
    "Charlie Wilson's War" (2007): during the Reagan administration, the US did support the Mujahideen, the anti-Soviet resistance fighters - who went on to form fundamentalist groups such as the Taliban and al-Qaida. U.S. Congressman Charlie Wilson (portrayed by Tom Hanks in the film directed by Mike Nichols and written by Aaron Sorkin) was a key proponent of the covert funding programme, which continued as late as 1991