Les Hirondelles de Kaboul (2018)
Genre: Animation / Drama
Duration: 81 minuten
Alternative title: The Swallows of Kabul
Country:
France / Luxembourg / Switzerland / Monaco
Directed by: Zabou Breitman and Eléa Gobbé-Mévellec
Stars: Zita Hanrot, Swann Arlaud and Simon Abkarian
IMDb score:
7,5 (2.984)
Releasedate: 4 September 2019
Les Hirondelles de Kaboul plot
Afghanistan 1998: Mosheen and the headstrong Zunaira try to find a twist in the repressive regime that has taken power. Mosheen is overcome with guilt when he attends a woman's stoning where he throws a stone himself. It is only a matter of time before the regime takes on Mosheen and Zunaira, but the prison guard Atiq and his seriously ill wife Mussarat, who have resigned themselves to the status quo, will play a key role in the fate of the two young lovers.
Actors and actresses
Atiq (voice)
Zunaira (voice)
Mohsen (voice)
Mussarat (voice)
Nazish
Qassim
Mollah
Professeur Arash Bayazid (voice)
Mirza (voice)
Reviews & comments
mrklm
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- 12190 messages
- 10362 votes
Beautiful, hand-drawn animated film based on the bestseller of the same name, moves the action to 1998 (the book is set in 2001). A young, highly educated couple finds it difficult to accept the repressive regime that forces them to live according to a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam. Zunaira [Zita Hanrot] can only listen to her favorite music in complete secrecy and is only allowed to walk on the street wearing a burqa - something she cannot stand. Mohsen [Swann Arlaud] is tempted by peer pressure to actively participate in the stoning of a woman and cannot forgive himself for that. Atiq [Simon Abkarian] is a prison guard who seems to have conformed to the new regime, but beneath his rigid attitude hides deep feelings for his terminally ill wife Mussarat [Hiam Abbass]. The paths of these two couples will tragically cross.
Impressive story shows how a repressive regime can influence public life, but not the thoughts and dreams of a generation that knows there is a better alternative for them. Sharp characterizations and the sober animation make this a masterpiece. The stoning is an undeniably emotional highlight, but try to keep it dry in the shocking and moving finale. The swallows from the title are a metaphor for the freedom that the four main characters long for in their own way.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Fisico
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- 10039 messages
- 5398 votes
I thought this was quite a strong animated film. One that has been on my list for some time. Both substantively and visually strong, although I find the latter particularly decisive in justifying my vote. The environment of destroyed buildings, inside and outside, was very beautifully drawn. The drawing style has something poetic with those watercolor tones. The style is at once detailed, but also dull, as if the people suffering under the Taliban regime are living in a bad dream, away from all reality. The sunlight was also beautifully integrated into the visual drawings.
The animated film is based on a novel of the same name. The title has something dreamy about it, longing for better times gone by and hoping that they will one day return. Totalitarian regimes can take away a lot, but dreams and hopes always remain alive for someone.
The film also outlines the fact that not everything is black and white. The stoning is a moving example of this. The event is intense in any case, but it also showed how peer pressure or a group event can lead to herd behavior. It goes without saying that women's lives were also severely curtailed. It is still very uncomfortable to have to face such situations. Strong!
Translated from Dutch · View original
Filmkriebel
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- 10133 messages
- 4740 votes
At the start I thought that the choice of animation would make it a caricature of the Taliban regime, but afterwards I thought it was quite a strong anti-Taliban film, in which the hunger for more public freedom of a part of the population is enslaved by the laws of the Sharia. All the sadness of a society comes to the fore: ban on music, stoning, corrupt judiciary, the burqa wearing, which makes women look more like walking PMD bags.
A film that is viewed strongly through Western lenses (Islam is only approached in a negative sense here), but you should not forget that in reality many Muslims and Muslim women are or would be proud to live in a society dominated by Sharia law. to live. It depends on how you look at it.
Translated from Dutch · View originalLatest News
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