While I wished for a tighter narrative structure, or maybe a closer focus on particular women, more like "Born Into Brothels" did by following a handful of children closely, I enjoyed this film. It gives the viewer glimpses into the homes and daily lives of Afghan women, instead of just the street shots of scowling armed men we so often see in the news.
It does make any culturally sensitive American cringe a bit when you see the hippie-dippy woman in John Lennon glasses telling an Afghan woman she needs to meditate and practice deep breathing before going home to slave for her strict, demanding husband and in-laws, or when you hear the abrasive New Yawk instructor upbraiding the students for not doing full face make-up and hair every day so they can represent the New Look to the rest of Afghan women, only to be told that if the women wear full makeup every day, they'll be punished by their husbands and in-laws for loose morals. Even so, I admired the instructors for taking on this project and bringing so much obvious joy to women whose lives seem to have held so little; and admired the students even more for their dogged determination to complete the training despite the demands of family and the lack of such seemingly ordinary things as driver's licenses.
It does make any culturally sensitive American cringe a bit when you see the hippie-dippy woman in John Lennon glasses telling an Afghan woman she needs to meditate and practice deep breathing before going home to slave for her strict, demanding husband and in-laws, or when you hear the abrasive New Yawk instructor upbraiding the students for not doing full face make-up and hair every day so they can represent the New Look to the rest of Afghan women, only to be told that if the women wear full makeup every day, they'll be punished by their husbands and in-laws for loose morals. Even so, I admired the instructors for taking on this project and bringing so much obvious joy to women whose lives seem to have held so little; and admired the students even more for their dogged determination to complete the training despite the demands of family and the lack of such seemingly ordinary things as driver's licenses.