Excellent adaptation.

brilliant actors, brilliant editing

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Afghan Star was a documentary that served the purpose of showing how the Afghan people live and what their culture does to them. The Afghan Star television show is similar to American Idol and other singing competition shows. This movie chooses to follow two women, in particular, Setara and Lema. Setara is the first of the two to get eliminated, and she is allowed a final performance. In this performance, she passionately sings and chooses to dance, which is forbidden in Islamic culture. The dancing in her performance brings her death threats and exclusion from her people. Setara really shows the struggles that many women go through in Afghanistan, and I think that is what this movie is really trying to portray. Gender equality in Afghanistan is one of the lowest in the world, which is definitely shown in this film. After Setara is eliminated, the focus of the documentary shifts to the final three contestants, Hameed, Rafi and Lema. These finalists are all from different tribes, and they all want Afghan unity. Since many Afghans watch this show, a plea for unity may actually be heard.

It's late 2007 and season 3 of Afghan Star, a singing contest on Afghanistan television. It attracts thousands of hopefuls and even three female singers. It would eventually be watched by as many as eleven million viewers.It starts a little slow. It feels scattered as the movie figures out who the most interesting contestants are. The production is reasonable considering the jerry-rigged nature of Afghan Star. The most compelling story is Setara when she starts dancing after getting voted out. It is the most compelling moment in the movie. The shock of everybody around her is the jolt that elevates this movie. This is a great slice of life documentary.

Afghan Star is an interesting, fun, sad documentary taking the audience to the reality in Afghanistan beyond war. I loved the texture behind the "Afghan Star" show theme in the documentary which reveals the multi-culture, values and perspectives of people in Afghanistan; pressure of Taliban; transformation of the country in years; and the universal feelings beyond society in an entertaining way. War and pressure is still in the air. Tanks are part of the screen shots, showing up in the corners, just to remind war despite the pop culture, gripping people's minds and feelings to escape the reality they live in. Great case study on pop culture!

After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan,and the resulting take over by the Taliban in the early 1980's , the Afghan people suffered the loss of their culture (music,dance & most everything that represents joy was taken away by the religiously overwrought Taliban). Flash forward to several years later,where the country was (somewhat)liberated from the Taliban,certain aspects of Afghan culture made a comeback (television & radio stations began to pop up through out the country,as well as the ban lifted on most music). A new form of entertainment began to appear on Afghan TV. That show was 'Afghan Stars',patterned somewhat after American Idol, where contestants vied for public exposure,singing their songs before an adoring public. Havana Marking directs a well put together documentary dealing with the contestants (four of them,three men & one woman),and their hopes & dreams. Along the way,we see the trials & tribulations of trying to make a career out of music in a society that still hasn't quite shaken off the brutal dictatorship of the Taliban (some women still wear Burkah's,possibly out of fear that the Taliban could make a comeback at any given moment),not to mention government sanctioned censorship (we see one female contestant deal with governmental,as well as societal scorn over her choosing to dance during her performance on Afghan Stars,as well as her head scarf being removed and considered exposing too much of her hair---go figure). This is a documentary that will cause rage among some (especially those who are watchdogs for human rights concerns). As this documentary is shot on HD video,rather than film stock,distribution will be somewhat limited to cinemas that are equipped for that format. Spoken in Pashtu & Dari with English subtitles & English. Not rated by the MPAA, it serves up a rude word or two,and some harrowing descriptions of brutal treatment by the Taliban.