At only seventy-four minutes in length "The Beauty Academy of Kabul" doesn't stick around very long, but there is a palpable power in its brevity. The film follows several hair stylists from the United States, including an Afghan refugee, into post-Taliban Afghanistan, as they train local women in the art of hair and make-up. Amazingly, some of these students had run beauty shops while the country was under the thumb of the Taliban. The film is quite fascinating in its simplicity, as it presents a story about building bridges between cultures and introducing peace to a war torn country with something as basic as scissors and a make-up brush. It's unexpectedly affecting, and captures a sense of rekindling misplaced hope in the region.
